


Archangel

by MiladyDragon



Series: Tomorrow Torchwood [2]
Category: Castle, Doctor Who (2005), Tomorrow People, Torchwood
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crossover, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-11
Updated: 2013-04-11
Packaged: 2017-12-08 05:03:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 33,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/757355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiladyDragon/pseuds/MiladyDragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the Tomorrow People are incapacitated by a mysterious, low-level telepathic field, Torchwood investigates.   Evidence leads them to Magister Innovations, the Archangel Network...and the last of the Time Lords.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the Torchwood Classic Big Bang, and is a sequel to my story, "Contagion". It goes completely AU from that story onward. Art was done by the fabulous the_silver_sun over on LJ.
> 
> This is also AU up to "Last of the Time Lords" and is pre-series Castle, just to keep the timeline from being confusing.

 

 

 

**Chapter One**

 

“– can’t believe you actually know Richard Castle,” Rhys Williams’ voice faded in as Ianto Jones and his two companions jaunted into the alley that ran behind their destination.

The place didn’t stink as badly as some alleys Ianto had found himself in – and when a person worked for Torchwood there were quite a few of them – and it ran the length of the block between the imposing rear walls of the shops that had doors opening into it.  There was an emergency door and a tall rolling metal one in the wall they were next to, the words ‘Waterstone’s’ on a small sign over the smaller of the two.  While Ianto knew he could open either one easily with his telekinesis he decided to be polite and warn Alexis that they were waiting.

 _‘I’ll be there in a sec,’_ the girl called out telepathically.

“I’ve only actually met him once,” he admitted.  “Alexis has to vet all the Tomorrow People through her father before he decides how to kill them.”

Gwen Cooper went pale.  “What do you mean, ‘kill them’?”

“Sorry,” he said, although secretly he wasn’t because he did enjoy winding people up, “I meant kill them in one of his books.”

“Of course that’s what he meant,” Rhys snorted.  “Obvious, innit?”

Gwen smacked her fiancé in the arm.  “Only to you, you big lug.”

Ianto couldn’t help but roll his eyes at their antics.  “It depends on the impression you make as to how long you last before you end up as a corpse.  I think John lasted five pages, and Elena nearly two chapters.  Paul, though…he didn’t even make it a paragraph before he became a corpse.”

“What about you, then?” Rhys asked.

“I don’t know yet,” Ianto answered.  “I think I might be in this next one –“

The emergency door swung open, squealing slightly, revealing Alexis Castle, her cherubic face framed by her vibrant red hair.  “Hey there,” the American girl greeted them with a smile.  “C’mon in.  Dad’s just about finished with the signing, and then we can all grab something to eat.”  She pushed it open farther in order to usher them inside.  “I should warn you; Dad’s in the mood for fish and chips.  He says he can only get decent fish and chips here in London, and he won’t pass up the chance.”

Ianto greeted her with a hug, and then followed Rhys and Gwen past the girl and into the back area of the bookstore.   The loading dock led directly into the large storage area, where boxes were stacked neatly on metal shelves and in labeled genres.  “Thanks for letting us in,” he said.

“Not a problem.  Dad can’t wait to meet someone you work with who isn’t Captain Harkness.”  Her tone was teasing. 

Ianto snorted.  “It’s only because Jack and your Dad are too much alike to really get along all that well.”

“Don’t tell Dad that,” Alexis grinned.  “He’ll get all pouty and then where would we be.”

“He doesn’t mind us just showing up then?” Rhys asked worriedly. 

“Nah, not at all.” Alexis shrugged.  “He’s a great dad, and he fully supports me being a Tomorrow Person, but he does like to know who I’m hanging out with.”

“And I’m sure them being fans is the best part,” Ianto said.

Alexis laughed.  “That’s certainly a plus!”

She led them through the storage area, and then out of an employee door and into the main store itself.  Ianto loved Waterstone’s in Piccadilly; it was eight floors of books, and when he’d lived in London he would come here every weekend.  Lisa would roll her eyes when he’d come back to the flat, carrying bags filled with books…

Ianto still missed Lisa, but it was much better now that he had Jack fully into his life.  Six months on since their reconciliation after the incident with General Carson and his aborted attempt to create a virus that would turn off the genetic code of the Tomorrow People – _Homo Superior_ – he and Jack were living together, and were getting closer every day.  Jack had embraced Ianto’s powers without reservation, and to Ianto that had been the greatest gift his immortal lover could have given him.

Torchwood and the Tomorrow People had come to form a partnership that had managed to save the planet at least twice since they’d come together that fateful December.  The first time had been their confrontation with Bilis Manger and his attempt to raise Abaddon from within the Cardiff Rift; it had been during that particular affair that Rhys had found out about Torchwood when Manger had tried to kill him in order to get Gwen to open the Rift.  Alexis had been the one to save him, which had endeared the young woman to Gwen, who still wasn’t sure that a fifteen-year-old was qualified to save the world but had finally accepted that John, the leader of the Tomorrow People, had known what he was doing when he’d sent her to ‘babysit’ Rhys.

Jack had wanted to Retcon Rhys after they’d managed to stop Manger and keep Abaddon from getting free, but John had convinced him not to.  Gwen had argued against it as well, in her own demonstrative way.   Ianto had to admit that Rhys had certainly come through for them several times since, especially when they’d had to face yet another Sorson invasion that had only been thwarted by an alien device that had had to have been hauled from Cardiff and out in the middle of the Brecon Beacons – and Toshiko had been all too happy to share what had happened the last time the team had been out there, for which Ianto was grateful that he’d been on the Trig at the time.  It had been a good thing that Rhys had had access to a fairly large lorry, since they hadn’t had a matter transmitter large enough to handle the load.

Ianto genuinely liked Rhys.  More than that, Johnny, Ianto’s brother-in-law, liked Rhys.  The two men got along like a house on fire, and there was many a time when Rhiannon and Gwen had commiserated over becoming rugby widows.  Ianto had to admit getting a bit of a laugh out of it, especially when Jack would also make the same complaint on nights when Johnny, Rhys, and Ianto would go to the pub on match days.  Of course, Ianto didn’t drink since he didn’t want to lose control of his powers and accidentally telepathically read the wrong person, so it was hilarious getting his friend and brother-in-law to their respective homes and into the sometimes welcoming arms of their significant others.

When he’d heard that Rhys was a fan of the Derrick Storm novels, Ianto couldn’t pass up the chance to tell Alexis, who had informed him that her Dad would be doing this particular book signing.  She’d invited him to bring Rhys and Gwen along, and Ianto had jumped at it, not able to resist seeing Rhys go into fanboy mode over his favourite author.  He’d kept their destination a secret until the very last moment, which made it all the much more fun.

Truthfully, they could have easily used the matter transporters to go anywhere Richard Castle was holding a signing, but Ianto always had had a soft spot for this Waterstone’s and had been looking forward to being in London once more.  Certainly, a lot of bad had happened in this city, but all that was outweighed by the good times he’d had, with Lisa and with the Tomorrow People.

Although, as much as London was a nice place to visit, Cardiff was now _home_ once more.

They accompanied Alexis up to the Mystery section of the enormous store, and it was obvious immediately that something was going on.  A line had formed near the service desk, and a table had been set up just beyond it, where a life-sized cut-out of the author had been put, holding the newest of the Derrick Storm novels in his hand and flashing a cocky grin to all and sundry. 

Richard Castle had the exact-same cocky grin on his face from Ianto’s vantage point near the end of the queue.  He was obviously flirting with the middle-aged mother who was currently getting his autograph, while the child she held by the hand looked incredibly bored with it all.  Ianto didn’t need to be a telepath to read the woman’s excitement at meeting the handsome author.

 _‘Please don’t call my Dad handsome,’_ Alexis requested.  _‘It would just go to his head.’_

Ianto assured her that he would keep that to himself.  Besides, while Mr. Castle was quite good looking, he really didn’t compare to what he had waiting for him back in Cardiff.

_‘And that’s why you rated about a page in Dad’s new book.  You paid too much attention to Captain Harkness and not enough to him when you both first met him.’_

_‘So much for your advice not to pander to his ego,’_ Ianto sent back, laughing mentally.

_“I tell everyone that, but you’re about the only one who listened to me.  You and John.’_

_‘John got more literary time than I did, though.’_

_‘That’s because John is with Elena, and Dad likes her.’_

That was true.  Castle seemed to be inordinately fond of Elena.  _“So…a page?”_

Alexis laughed, but didn’t answer.

Richard Castle caught sight of them, and waved them forward.  Alexis led the way, and Ianto didn’t need to be empathic at all to sense Rhys’ excitement at getting the chance to meet his idol.  The few people still left in the line looked irritated at what had to seem like preferential treatment, but Ianto couldn’t bring himself to care.

Castle rose, and greeted his daughter with a hug.  “Just a few last minute fans,” he said airily, releasing Alexis and nodding to Ianto.  “Jones, nice to see you again.  I see you didn’t bring your other half with you today. Although…” he suddenly turned on the charm, catching sight of Gwen, “you’ve more than made up for it.”  He held out a hand to her.  “Richard Castle.  It’s nice to meet you, Ms…?”

Gwen took the offered hand.  “Gwen Cooper,” she introduced herself, and Ianto didn’t think he was imagining the faint blush on her face.

“And I’m Rhys Williams, Gwen’s fiancé,” Rhys put himself between Gwen and Castle, giving the author a side-eye worthy of every jealous man ever born. 

It didn’t seem to faze Castle one bit.  With the same bright smile he shook Rhys’ hand.  “I’m surrounded by the Welsh!  Glad you could come, Mr. Williams.  I understand you’re the fan in this bunch?”  At Rhys’ nod, Castle said, “It just shows what good taste you have.  Give me a few minutes and then we can get out of here.”

He went to sit back down, and Ianto couldn’t help but be amused.  He had to give Castle credit; he was nearly as smooth as Jack was.  Which was, of course, another reason why the two men didn’t really get along all that well.

True to his word, it was only a few more minutes before Castle was smiling and posing for his last photo, and the manager of the Waterstone’s was thanking him profusely for spending time in their store.  Gracefully, Castle accepted the gratitude, and before long the five of them were out on the sidewalk.

“The closest chippy is about three blocks down,” Ianto indicated to his left.  “We can grab something to eat there.”

Castle looked at his shrewdly.  “Either you read my mind – which I know you TP would never do – or Alexis ratted me out to you.”

“Dad,” the girl rolled her eyes.

Castle put his arm around her, grinning widely.  “Always taking such good care of me...even though I’m supposed to be the adult in the family.”

“Someone has to look out for you and Grams,” Alexis answered, returning his grin. 

“And you do that so well.”  He turned back to Ianto.  “Lead the way, Jones.”

Ianto did so, making his way through the late afternoon crowds, the thoughts of the humans around him tickling against his mental shields.  He would never deliberately read anyone, but it wasn’t hard to pick up on things when people seemed to think so loudly.  It made him wonder what they would think if they knew someone could catch their surface thoughts so easily was walking among them.

“So,” Castle said, “you seem to know London pretty well, Jones.  I thought you lived in Cardiff?”

“I do,” Ianto answered.  “But I lived here in London for several years and I came to Waterstone’s quite often.”

“That’s right,” Gwen said knowingly.  “I’d almost forgotten.”

Ianto shrugged.  “That’s fine, Gwen.”  It really wasn’t, but he couldn’t actually fault her for not remembering.  Living in London wasn’t something he really dwelled on any longer.  It had been a wonderful time of his life, but it was over now.

He couldn’t help but notice the shrewd curiosity on Castle’s face.  “This sounds like an interesting story.”

“Dad,” Alexis chided him.  “That’s Ianto’s business, and not yours.”

“I don’t mind,” Ianto said, sending her his gratitude mentally.  “Me and my fiancée lived here until she was killed during the terrorist attack at Canary Wharf.”

He knew that Alexis could sense the last remnants of the pain he still carried over Lisa, but he hadn’t been lying when he said he didn’t mind talking about it.  He certainly couldn’t tell the complete and honest truth about what had occurred, but he knew now that Lisa had been long dead before he’d even gotten out of Torchwood One that horrible day.

Castle looked contrite.  “Sorry about that.”

“As I said, it’s fine.  I do miss Lisa, but I have Jack now, and although I lost her I can’t help but think that I gained Jack.” 

“I’m not so sure that’s a good trade-off, mate,” Rhys snorted.  This wasn’t the first time that he’d heard about Canary Wharf, and Ianto knew this was an attempt to lighten the mood.

“Ouch,” Castle added, wincing theatrically, seeming to catch on to what Rhys was doing.

Ianto sighed good-naturedly.  “I do wish you’d quit picking on Jack.  He’s not all that bad.”

Gwen threaded her arm around Ianto’s.  “Don’t let them get to you, sweetheart.”

He patted her hand.  “At least I know one of you is on my side –“

He didn’t get anything else out before cold darkness rolled through his mind like an arctic wave.

_Trust me._

_Believe in me._

_I am your friend._

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

 

**Chapter Two**

Jack Harkness barely managed not to slam the phone down onto its cradle.

Just who did Harold Saxon think he was?

Of course, the man thought he was a government official, and in Jack’s experience every one of Saxon’s ilk had an entitlement complex several miles wide.  Saxon seemed worse, in his opinion, and Jack sincerely hoped that the Defence Minister wouldn’t be elected Prime Minister.  It wouldn’t take much for Jack to wish for a final death if Saxon did get elected into office.

He rubbed his temples, hoping to fight off the headache that dealing with Saxon always brought on.  Jack wanted the man to go away, and it didn’t look like he’d be doing that anytime in near future.  He knew Ianto felt the same way, and neither of them was above bitching about Saxon over something the Minister had tried to pull.  The last issue they’d had was Saxon trying to get Torchwood reports into Cabinet meetings, and it had taken Jack threatening to go to the Queen to get Saxon to back down.

Ever since then, Saxon had gone out of his way to make Jack’s life miserable.  Well, that was most likely an exaggeration, but still…the Defence Minister hadn’t made it easy, calling and making the strangest demands and insisting on Jack’s attention.  It was as if the man had it out for Jack, but if Saxon thought that would make Jack knuckle under and do things his way, then he was sorely mistaken.

Torchwood was above the government, and Jack was taking an obscene amount of pleasure in showing Saxon just what that meant.

He got up out of his chair, stretching until he felt his back crack.  Sighing, Jack made his way to the etched window looking out over the main Hub, a slight smile on his face as he watched Toshiko Sato chatting away, her mobile open and sitting on her desk as she worked on whatever project she had going.  Jack knew immediately who she was talking to; his technical expert and Tim, the Tomorrow People’s biotronic supercomputer, had struck up a friendship and Toshiko would call Tim at least twice a week, and together the pair would get completely lost in technobabble that even had Jack scratching his head.

He couldn’t see Owen, but he knew the doctor was down in the Autopsy Bay, working on clearing a backload of work from the last abortive invasion they’d had.  Jack really should have expected the comments Owen had made on the Sorson body shape, but then it wasn’t often that they ran into an alien race that resembled an ambulatory penis and Jack had indulged him. 

Ianto and Gwen had the day off, and were taking Rhys to London to meet Richard Castle.  When Jack had found out that Alexis’ father was a famous author, he’d been concerned. He’d spoken with John, who’d allayed his fears over Castle deciding to write a novel based on the Tomorrow People…or, god forbid, Torchwood if he ever found out about it.  The support of parents was important to a young Tomorrow Person, and Richard Castle was completely behind his daughter.  Jack had seen it first-hand when he’d met the American, and knew that he would rather die than to put Alexis in any unnecessary danger.

Jack sighed, wondering when Ianto and Gwen would be back.  Ianto had said not to expect him for dinner, which was why Jack was still in the Hub and not thinking about heading toward their flat for the night.  In a bit though he’d shoo both Toshiko and Owen out, even though that would leave him alone until Ianto returned.

If he’d been told even a year ago that he would find happiness with an evolved human who had impressive mental powers Jack would have laughed.  Especially after the rocky start he and Ianto had had over the whole Lisa incident.  Jack hadn’t even known that Ianto was a Tomorrow Person at the time, and had nearly destroyed his mind with his demand to kill the young man’s converted girlfriend.  Tomorrow People were genetically skewed against taking lives, and it had damaged Ianto almost beyond repair.

But they’d come together once again after the events with General Carson, and had been a couple ever since. 

It had been Ianto who had made him miss the Doctor when the Time Lord had appeared in the Plass to re-energize his TARDIS, although Jack never blamed his lover for it.  They’d been on a date to Ianto’s favourite Thai restaurant at the time – in actual Thailand – so they hadn’t been in Cardiff.  However, Jack had managed to get as many answers as he could from various healers and scientists from the Galactic Trig, and knew pretty much everything about his ‘condition’, if not what exactly had caused it.   It wasn’t that he didn’t want to see the Doctor again, but Jack was fairly content with his life now, and he wasn’t dependent on the Time Lord anymore.

Jack was now focused on Torchwood…and Ianto, for as long as his lover was alive.  There would be plenty of time later on to reconnect with the Doctor.  After all, he had eternity to catch up.

He was about to turn away when Toshiko caught his attention.

His technician stopped what she was doing on her terminals, and had turned to the open mobile on the desk next to her keyboard.  She picked it up, and even though Jack couldn’t hear her he could read her lips, and she was calling Tim’s name, the expression on her face one of worry.

Jack was out of his office and down to Toshiko’s station before he even knew he’d reacted.

“I was speaking with Tim,” Toshiko said, even before Jack could ask, “and suddenly there was just dead air.  The connection is fine, but for some reason Tim is…gone.”

Jack frowned.  “Tim wouldn’t just drop the call like that.”

“The network we have between us and the Lab is dedicated and totally secure,” Toshiko explained.  “There is literally no way a call could drop unless Tim hung up on me.”

“Tim?” Jack scoffed.  “He’s the politest being we know.  He’d never hang up on you unless he couldn’t help it.”

“Exactly.”   Toshiko worried her lip with her teeth. 

Jack lifted his arm, and flipped back the cover of his Vortex Manipulator.  Not that it worked as that any longer since John had repaired it.  The elder Tomorrow Person had originally meant to convert the wrist strap into a matter transporter, but it had turned out to be simpler to just repair the original teleportation circuits and the communicator.  Jack could no longer travel in time, but he didn’t mind.  He had a life there in Cardiff, and he didn’t mean to leave it.

He thumbed on the communicator.  It was a direct link to the biotronic supercomputer, and he pinged Tim, needing to find out what had occurred. 

Tim didn’t answer.

“Damnit,” Jack swore.  He closed his Manipulator and then pulled out his own mobile, meaning to call Ianto in London. 

It rang before he could even call up his contacts.

The name _Gwen_ showed up on the caller I.D.

Jack didn’t know why her calling suddenly made his heart slam hard, but it did.

“What’s wrong?” he answered, not bothering with pleasantries.

_“Ianto and Alexis have both collapsed,”_ Gwen reported.  She sounded out of breath.  _“We were walking down the street, and then suddenly they both went down.  We don’t know what’s wrong.”_

“We’ve lost contact with Tim, too,” Jack said, knowing instantly that both had to be connected. 

He wanted nothing more than to get to London immediately, but Jack had to keep his personal feelings at bay. 

But it was Ianto…

_“Shit, Jack.  I was hoping he could teleport them out or something.  We’ve already brought a lot of attention, and someone’s called 999…”_

It was Jack’s turn to curse.  The last thing they needed was a well-meaning doctor doing some sort of brain scan; it would be nothing at all to see the differences between a Tomorrow Person brain and a normal human’s.  It was too late though, there were too many witnesses, and Jack sincerely doubted that they’d be able to stop Ianto and Alexis from being taken into the nearest hospital.

“Let us know what hospital they take them to,” Jack ordered.  “Owen and I will get there immediately.”

_“Will do,”_ Gwen replied.  She disconnected.

“Owen!” Jack shouted. 

“No need to scream, Harkness,” the medic grumbled.  Owen was up on the Autopsy Bay landing, looking irritated.

“Get your gear together,” Jack said, ignoring the man’s comment.  “Ianto and Alexis have collapsed in London, and we can’t get in touch with Tim to teleport them out.  Gwen called and they’re going to be transported by ambulance.”

The irritation left Owen’s face immediately, and he went into doctor mode.  “Give me five minutes,” he said, heading back down into his domain, grumbling something about ‘the hacks in A&E’ as he left.

“Toshiko,” Jack regarded his technician, “I want you to hack Tim.”

The Japanese woman’s mouth fell open.  “Hack Tim?  Jack, are you serious?  Tim’s the most advanced artificial intelligence on the planet!  I can’t just push a few buttons and get in, like I can with eBay!”

“I’d have thought you’d appreciate the challenge.”

“Challenge?  No, Jack.  Hacking Tim isn’t a challenge; it’s nearly impossible.  Besides, he’s a friend –“

“Tosh,” Jack murmured, putting his hands on her shoulders, “something’s happened to Ianto and Alexis, and if they were affected then the other Tomorrow People most likely would have been, too.”  That was a supposition on his part, but it made sense.  “We also have to believe that, whatever happened to them, also happened to Tim.  We need to know if he’s all right.”

She sighed, then nodded.  “I’ll do my best.  Tim once told me about a backdoor, but he never elaborated on it.  I’ll see if I can somehow find it, but if it was easy to locate…”

“Anyone would have been able to get in years ago,” Jack finished.  “Your best is always good enough, Toshiko.  Do what you can.  We need to know if Tim is offline, or if it’s something else.”

Toshiko relaxed back into her seat.  Pushing her glasses back up onto her nose, she began working, her face sliding into its familiar look of concentration.

Jack had complete faith in her abilities, but even he realised he’d set Toshiko at a near-impossible task.  Tim was, indeed, the most advanced biological computing system on Earth, and most likely on several other planets as well.  The only person who truly knew Tim inside and out was the person who had constructed him.

And John was somewhere they couldn’t contact him.  He might very well be incapacitated as well.

Just the same as Ianto.

He wanted to leave now, to go to his lover and bring him back to the Hub.  Jack didn’t dare; there were too many witnesses apparently, and with emergency services contacted there would be no sneaking Ianto and Alexis away.  Not even Castle would be able to waive them off, despite being Alexis’ father. 

No, the best plan was to get to them while they were in A&E, and hope for the best.

Jack hated waiting, especially when it was Ianto in trouble.

 

**********

 

Jack and Owen transported to just outside the entrance to the A&E where Ianto and Alexis were being brought, trying to be careful and not draw attention to their sudden appearance.  Gwen had called him when the ambulance had arrived, giving Jack the location and telling him that Castle would be riding with the paramedics, while she and Rhys would be arriving by taxi. 

They were there when the ambulance carrying Ianto and Alexis arrived.  Owen handed off his two equipment cases to Jack and bustled forward the moment the doors at the rear of the vehicle opened, and it was only his white doctor’s coat that allowed him entrance.  Jack hovered outside, and it was a few moments later that Owen emerged.  “Ianto’s coming to,” he reported as the gurney with Alexis was brought out first, her father following closely behind.  Castle glanced at Jack, then his eyes flickered toward Owen, but he said nothing as he went with the paramedic pushing the gurney into the sliding doors leading into the A&E. 

Owen helped with the second one holding a barely conscious Ianto, and Jack dogged his medic’s steps as they took his lover inside.  The fact that Ianto was coming to lifted the terror he’d been feeling ever since Gwen had phoned.  The very idea that something had struck both Tomorrow People down without some sort of clue – and had most likely taken Tim out as well – was frightening.  Jack didn’t even guess at what it might have been, not until he could talk to Ianto and get some answers.  Until then, if he let his imagination take over then he’d only succeed in scaring himself nearly to death.

“Excuse me,” the nurse at the front station called out as Jack passed.  “You can’t go in there unless you’re family.”

Owen left his place at Ianto’s gurney, giving the woman his best doctor’s glare.  “He _is_ family, darlin’.  He’s Mr. Jones’ next of kin.  Now, why don’t you go and do some filing and leave the ones who know what they’re doing to get on with it.” 

He grabbed Jack’s elbow and steered him into the main A&E ward, ignoring the woman’s insulted huff.  It was like most others; curtains separated areas where beds could be parked, and Jack could see the paramedic pulling Alexis’ gurney up into one of the exam areas, next to a bed waiting for them.  Ianto was put in the next cubicle, and the second paramedic helped his partner transfer first Alexis, and then Ianto, into the hospital beds. 

A doctor was approaching, and Owen left Jack to go and head the woman off at the pass.  “I’m Miss Castle and Mr. Jones’ personal physician,” he said before the doctor could open her mouth.  “I’ll be looking after them.”

The woman frowned.  “Are you even credentialed to work in this hospital?” she demanded, crossing her arms over her chest.

Owen smiled, and it looked almost shark-like.  “I can work anywhere I like,” he answered.  “Now, I need to see to my patients.”  Without another word, Owen headed into Ianto’s exam area, tugging the curtain closed.

“Can you move the curtains a bit so I can see both Tea-Boy and Alexis?” he requested curtly, reaching for his equipment.

Jack didn’t take offense as his tone, simply handing over the two cases and doing as Owen ordered.   Once Alexis’ cubicle was open to Ianto’s, he gave Castle a slight nod.  “This is our medic, Doctor Owen Harper.  What he doesn’t know about Tomorrow People medical-wise probably isn’t worth knowing.”

Castle scowled, but returned the nod.  “Just how many people do you have working with you, Harkness?”

“Just five, plus Rhys,” Jack answered.  “You just haven’t met Toshiko yet.”

He ducked around Owen and went to Ianto’s side.  His lover was blinking his eyes rapidly as if to clear them, his brow furrowed in obvious pain.  “Here.”  Owen handed Jack a couple of white pills.  “Painkillers.  Tea-Boy is gonna need them.  I’m gonna examine Alexis first, since she hasn’t regained consciousness yet.” 

There was a rolling cart parked against the wall, and Owen put one of his cases down on the top.  He flipped it open, revealing what looked like a laptop with leads attached to it. 

“What the hell is that?” Castle demanded. 

“Alien tech,” the medic answered, “adapted by John and Tosh into a very advanced and miniaturised EEG calibrated for Tomorrow People brains.”  He pulled the leads out, untangling them.  “Both Tea-Boy and Alexis lost consciousness, so it could have been a mentally based attack.”

“It was,” Ianto mumbled, his voice gravelly. 

“Shut up and take your meds,” Owen snarked.  “Harkness, keep him on his back until I’ve examined him…and I don’t mean the way you’re thinking.  Get your mind out of the gutter.”

Jack was actually too worried about Ianto and Alexis to come up with any sort of comeback for that, but from the expression on Owen’s face it seemed that the medic wasn’t expecting anything.

“Jack?”  He heard Gwen calling out.

He pressed a kiss against Ianto’s forehead, and then stepped out from behind the curtain.  Gwen and Rhys were making their way down the ward, and Gwen caught sight of him first, taking Rhys by the arm and leading him toward the immortal.  “How are they?” she asked, sounding somewhere breathless.

“Owen’s examining them now,” Jack answered.  He glanced around, seeing several nurses and the doctor that had accosted them on the way in not watching in that way that said they were, in fact, watching.  “Can you two keep an eye out?  Make sure no one disturbs us.”

“You got it, mate,” Rhys said. 

Jack touched them both on the shoulder then headed back into the exam area. 

 

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

 

**Chapter Three**

Ianto curled up on his side, so he could watch Owen with Alexis. 

He felt as if his head would fall off at the movement.  He almost hoped it would, because then it might not pound like someone had turned up the bass line in his brain.

Despite the pain, Ianto’s mind felt numb, as if his telepathy had been cut off.  It reminded him of just after Lisa, in that horrible month when he hadn’t been certain he’d get his powers back after he’d tried to break the Prime Barrier for Jack, to correct the mistake he’d made in trying to save Lisa…or the thing that had taken her over.  He’d hated not knowing if we ever be whole again, and when his power had gradually returned the relief Ianto had felt had been indescribable.

Now, the relief was there once more, but it was because he recognized the fact that he was in a hospital and for no other reason.  Ianto had an irrational fear of hospitals…well, maybe it wasn’t all that irrational, having spent the majority of his break-out shut up in Providence Park, surrounded by the minds of the insane…no, not being able to sense the sick and dying in the building was a mercy, one that Ianto would willingly accept.

Already, though, he could feel the tendrils of power returning.  It wouldn’t be long before he would regain his full strength, and Ianto sincerely hoped he’d be out of this place before that happened.  His shields might be strong, but the sort of pain and fear that inhabited a hospital could rival that of Canary Wharf during the Daleks and Cybermen attack.

Jack had gone, and Ianto wished he’d come back quickly.  Jack was peaceful to be around, his thoughts completely hidden by the mental shields that his lover had.  Now, he couldn’t help but want that peace surrounding him, to prevent any sort of reaction that might come when his powers did return.

Instead, he concentrated on watching what was going on around Alexis.  Castle was standing beside his daughter at the far end of the gurney, holding her hand.  Owen worked around the girl, slipping a thin mesh-like cap over her head, the thin wires leading back to the case he’d set on a rolling cart he must have found from somewhere.   He’d seen the device before; hell, he’d let himself be used as a guinea pig for John and Tosh as they’d developed it. 

“Let’s see what we have here,” Owen said, turning to the modified laptop’s screen. 

Jack re-entered the cubicle then, and came to sit beside Ianto, pulling himself onto the uncomfortable gurney and positioning himself so that Ianto could lean his back against him and still watch what was going on.  Ianto couldn’t sense anything from Jack, but of course that was normal.  However, everything else was gradually coming back.  He couldn’t help but tense up at that.

Jack took his hand.  “We’ll get both you and Alexis out of here soon,” his lover murmured. 

Ianto didn’t say anything; but then, he doubted he needed to.  Jack was well aware of his past, and had to have guessed what was going on. 

“Looks like Alexis suffered the equivalent of a telepathic concussion,” Owen reported.  “Her beta and gamma waves are coming back up to normal levels already, but the neural activity across her frontal lobe is nearly flat.”  He turned around, giving Ianto a look.  “Tea-Boy, how’s your telepathy?”

“Muffled,” Ianto admitted.  “But it’s coming back slowly.”  The slower, he felt, the better.

Something in his expression must have communicated itself to Owen, because the medic said, “We’ll get both of you outta here before that happens.  Can you get your shields up?”

“Not really, no.  It feels like they’ve been shredded.”  That wasn’t exactly how it felt, but it was as close as he could get to describing how it felt.

“Shit.”  Owen began removing the cap from Alexis’ head.  “We need transportation before Alexis wakes up, then.  Harkness, can you arrange it?”

“I can take Ianto and Alexis back to the Hub using my wrist strap,” Jack answered.

“Yeah, that’ll work –“

“Wait a second,” Castle butted in.  “I understand that we don’t want any doctors to run any tests on Alexis and Jones, but what’s the rush to get them out?”

“Ianto has the strongest shields of all the Tomorrow People,” Owen explained as he packed away the EEG.  “If his are shredded, then Alexis’ are gonna be in worse shape.  If neither one of them can shield, then they can’t block out the shit they’re bound to pick up in the building…”

Castle paled as he apparently grasped the implications of what Owen was saying.  “Got it,” he agreed.  “Let’s get them both out of here.”

Owen closed up his case.  “Can you take both back to the Hub at the same time?”

“No,” Jack answered.  “I can only carry one at a time now.”  He sounded frustrated.

“Alexis first,” Ianto demanded, only it sounded more like a croak than being strong enough for any sort of demand.  “I don’t want her waking up here.”

Castle looked relieved, and then he turned toward Jack.  “Where are you taking her?”

“Back to our Hub, where Owen can keep a close eye on her.”

“What about the Lab?”

“We haven’t heard anything from the other Tomorrow People yet,” Jack explained.  “And Tim is apparently down as well.  We have no way of getting there, it’s too well hidden.  Besides, even if I could teleport us there, there’s no telling what we might find.”

Ianto knew that Jack was obfuscating just a bit.  He’d been to the Lab many times, and while Jack had always relied on Tim bringing him in, Ianto was convinced that his lover knew the exact coordinates of the Lab and would be able to get there on his own. 

But if Tim really was down…

Ianto couldn’t help but shudder.  The biotronic supercomputer had all sorts of redundant shielding, and if the same signal that had knocked Alexis and himself out had somehow damaged Tim…

And what about John, Elena, and Paul?  Ianto knew for a fact that John had gone to do some sort of investigation of a company in the States that had somehow gotten a hold of alien technology and had been reverse engineering it.  Elena was also in the States, although she’d been visiting a former teammate who had settled down, and was now expecting.  As for Paul, the last thing Ianto had heard from the younger TP was that he had a date with his semi-regular girlfriend.

How could whatever had happened have affected them all?

Ianto’s brain hurt too much to think about it, even though Owen’s painkillers were helping a bit.

“I’ve got all the equipment back at the Hub in order to take care of Alexis and Ianto,” Owen pointed out.  “Now, are we gonna get them both out of here before Alexis wakes up and gets bombarded by shit she can’t handle?”

Castle looked like he wanted to argue, but he gave in.  “All right, let’s do this.”

Jack left Ianto’s side, and he missed his lover immensely.  He poked his head outside and said something to…yes, it was Rhys and Gwen, keeping anyone else out.  Ianto could just make out Gwen’s busy thoughts, and Rhys’ more grounded ones. 

After he was done speaking with Rhys and Gwen, Jack made his way over to the gurney where Alexis lay.  He carefully gathered the young woman up into his arms.  “I’ll be right back,” he promised, “and then I’ll get Ianto – “

“No,” Ianto denied weakly.  “Mister Castle next, so he can be there when Alexis wakes up.”

Castle gave Ianto a relieved smile, but Jack looked like he wanted to argue. 

“Please,” Ianto said, before Jack could speak, “he’s her father.”

Finally, Jack gave a sharp nod.  Then, he activated his Vortex Manipulator, and the two were gone.

“She’s gonna be fine,” Owen told Castle.  “She’ll have the headache from hell, but it’ll be a complete recovery.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” Castle said, letting out a breath.

“Nah, just doing my job, mate.  Now, if you really wanted to thank me, you could introduce me to one of the starlets that seem to go for you…”

Castle leered.  “Gwyneth Paltrow, Maggie Gyllenhall, or Liv Tyler?”

“All of the above?”

The author snorted, opening his mouth to reply, but Jack teleported back into the cubicle.  “I put Alexis on the sofa for the time being,” he reported.   “She was beginning to wake up, so we should get going.” He raised his arm.  “Hand on the wrist strap, please.”

Castle side-eyed it for a moment, but apparently his worry over his daughter overruled the concern for the mode of transportation, and he did as Jack requested.  Jack cast one glance over toward Ianto, and then they were gone.

“How’s the pain, Tea-Boy?” Owen asked, sounding about as solicitous as he normally did…which was hardly at all. 

“Not bad now,” Ianto admitted.  But the signals he was getting from the residents of the hospital were growing stronger, and they were nibbling at his consciousness like mental rats, eating away at his control.  Someone in the A&E was in terrible pain, and on the floor above another patient was in a drug-induced haze and was hallucinating, the visions infringing on Ianto’s own mind until he could see them in all their confused clarity…

“Oi!” Owen’s voice cut into the fogginess that was intruding into Ianto’s brain.  “Do I need to sedate you?”

Ianto swallowed.  “No, that would make it worse.”  He’d have absolutely no defence against what he was sensing then, and he didn’t want to leave himself at the mercy of the feelings and thoughts of the patients surrounding them.

He wanted to weep when Jack appeared again, but settled for a weak smile.   “What took you so long?”

“Sorry,” Jack said, reaching out and touching Ianto’s cheek, and the Tomorrow Person reveled in the peace of Jack’s mind.  “Castle was a bit…surprised by Myfanwy.  I had to reassure him that she wouldn’t eat either him or Alexis.”

Ianto wanted to laugh, but he wanted to get out of the hospital more. 

He let Jack help him to his feet, his brain feeling as if it were sloshing about inside his skull, but he felt comforted by Jack’s arm around him. 

“I’ll get the Williamses and meet you outside,” Owen said.  “None of us want to be around when they realise their patients vanished into thin air.”

“I’ll be back for you as soon as I get Ianto settled,” Jack promised, his grip around Ianto’s waist tightening.

Without being told, Ianto rested his hand over the leather wrist strap, and Jack slid his hand underneath to activate the Vortex Manipulator.  There was a sudden wrench of teleportation – completely unlike jaunting, which was always smooth – and Ianto found himself in the Hub, standing near the old sofa where Alexis was sitting, leaning against her father. 

Jack deposited him next to Alexis.  His lover stroked his fingers through Ianto’s hair.  “Three more to go,” he murmured.  “Be back soon.”

With that, he was gone.

Ianto was glad to be back in the Hub.  There were no loud mental voices to block out; although he could sense the minds of the tourists above on the Plass, they weren’t very loud, and on the whole they were quite happy.  He leaned his head back, letting it loll as he relaxed.

He could sense Toshiko’s approach.  He enjoyed being around the technician at the best of times.  Now, her calm and orderly mind was like a balm to his, almost as comforting as Jack’s was.  “I made you some tea,” she said softly.

Ianto opened his eyes and smiled up at her.  “Thank you, you are a star.”

A faint blush painted her cheeks.  “It’s herbal, since I didn’t think your head would be able to stand the caffeine.”

He took the warm mug from her, inhaling the steam.  It smelled heavenly, and seemed to clear his brain a little.  “Have you heard from any of the other Tomorrow People yet?” he inquired.

She looked grave.  “Not yet.  Jack asked me hack Tim and see what happened to him though.”

As much as Ianto had faith in his friend’s skill, he knew it would take something more than Toshiko’s brilliance to get into Tim’s systems, even if the artificial intelligence had somehow become damaged.  “I have some codes that might help.  John made certain Elena and I could access Tim’s diagnostics from outside the Lab if needed.”

A grateful smile lit her face.  “If we can see whatever happened to you or Alexis affected Tim, that might be one step into figuring out what it was.”

“You get codes for Tim?” Alexis asked, sounding put out.

Ianto glanced over at her.  She was even paler than usual, with dark circles under her grey eyes.  She was slumped against her father, holding her own tea mug.  “Yes, and don’t be insulted that he didn’t share.”  He reached over and clasped her hand.  “Feeling better?”

“Yeah, although my head is pounding like my brain wants to escape.”  She tried to smile, but it was a weak effort. 

“Wait until Owen gets here.  He’ll make sure you get some of the good painkillers.”  Ianto’s head wasn’t aching nearly so badly, but he knew the pain wouldn’t go entirely away.  He didn’t want to be so drugged up that he couldn’t function, and he knew Alexis would feel the same way.

He set his mug down and, with Toshiko’s steadying hand on his arm, Ianto managed to stand and make his way over to Toshiko’s work station.  He slid into the chair carefully, and had to blink a few times before he could focus on the lines of code that were on the larger monitor in the middle.

“Tea-Boy!” Owen’s strident voice echoed through the Hub, making Ianto wince.  “You should be resting that super-brain of yours instead of messing about playing video games.”

Ianto didn’t deign to even look in his direction.  “I have a back door into Tim, and I thought it would be important that we find out if he’s down and what happened.  So excuse me for wanting to get to the bottom of things.”

“You call him Tea-Boy?” Castle inquired.  Ianto didn’t look at him, either, but he could sense and hear his curiosity.  “Why?”

“Have you tasted his coffee yet?”  There was a pause, and Ianto guessed that Castle had just shaken his head.  “When you do, you’ll know.”

“Then why not coffee boy?”

“Because that would make sense, and Owen is a prat,” Ianto called back over his shoulder.  He got to work, Toshiko watching as he began.  “I’m certain Tim wouldn’t mind you knowing,” he answered quietly.  “In fact I’m sure he would have told you himself if he’d thought about it.”

He could sense Toshiko’s curiosity, and Ianto knew he’d need to get his shields back under control.  He normally didn’t pick up such things from her.

It didn’t take long for Ianto to get into the special back door that John had set up, in order to get into Tim’s diagnostics.  All the while, he could hear Owen talking to Alexis, asking her questions and checking her physical and mental states.  He knew it would be his turn at some point, but as he worked he noticed that he was beginning to feel better.  His shields were gradually reknitting themselves and the noise of the tourists above their heads was fading out. 

As he worked Jack had arrived back with Gwen, and then with Rhys.  Ianto made a mental note to come up with a cover story for the hospital…

And then he was in.

Several screens popped up, and Ianto squinted at each one as he assimilated what he was seeing.  A warm and familiar hand rested on his shoulder.  “Find anything?”

Ianto nodded faintly.  “It looks like whatever hit us affected Tim as well.  The signal somehow managed to penetrate his telepathic buffers and damaged some of Tim’s communication nodes.  The self-repair units are working, but until they’re done Tim won’t be talking to us.”

“Is there an estimated time?”  Jack asked.

“Looks to be about an hour.”

“No wonder it knocked you and Alexis for six,” Owen commented.  “If it damaged Tim, you’re both lucky nothing nastier happened to you.”

“While Tim’s really advanced,” Toshiko said, “he’s still somewhat limited by his mechanical nature.  The Tomorrow Person brain was able to react in nanoseconds to the attack and knock Ianto and Alexis out in order to avoid any permanent damage, while Tim couldn’t, in fact, lose consciousness.”

“But what about the others?” Alexis asked from the sofa, where she still cuddled up next to her father.  “Why haven’t we heard from anyone else?  John and Elena were supposed to be out of the country, so they shouldn’t have been affected.”

“And it wasn’t a break-out,” Ianto added.  He spun in the chair to look at his fellow _Homo_ _Superior_.   “Did you hear it, Alexis?  Just before we passed out.”

Her forehead wrinkled.  “Yes, I did.  It was a voice, and it wanted me to trust it.”  Her hand jerked as she spoke, in a specific rhythm that Ianto found his own hand following. 

“It said it was our friend,” Ianto agreed, the words repeating in his head.   His eyes unfocused slightly, as he thought back onto what happened.  The voice had sounded so friendly…

“Ianto!”

Jack’s worried voice broke through the memory of the voice, and he looked up into his lover’s fearful face.  Ianto blinked, bringing himself back to the present.  “What just happened?” he asked.

“That’s what I want to find out.”  Jack went from concerned to captain in a heartbeat.  “Owen, I want both Ianto and Alexis put through every test you can think of.  Something is going on here, and I want to know what it is…yesterday.”

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

 

**Chapter Four**

Jack chewed his thumb as he stood at the railing overlooking the autopsy bay, watching Owen put Ianto through every sort of exam the medic could think of.

When he’d seen both his lover and Alexis go blank, their fingers tapping some sort of odd rhythm, he’d nearly panicked.  He hadn’t been the only one; Rick Castle had gone white as he’d called out to his daughter, to bring her back from the brink of…well, of wherever she and Ianto had gone.   Jack had managed to do the same thing to Ianto, and it disturbed him more than he cared to admit, especially since neither Tomorrow Person seemed to recall what had happened during their fugue state.

He was the Captain though, and he needed to be in command.

However, he’d gotten several pointed looks from Castle, and suspected he wasn’t being overly successful.

“Jack!”

Toshiko’s calling his name had his head snapping around, and before he knew it Jack was heading away from the autopsy bay and toward his technician’s station, passing the sofa where Castle and Alexis still sat, the young woman resting against her father.  He spared her a glance; she looked much improved, colour coming back into her face and the lines of pain vanishing from her forehead.  Castle gave him a slight nod, confirming what he was seeing.

“Whatcha got, Tosh?” Jack asked, stopping just behind her chair.  It was all he could do not to rock on his heels in sheer nervousness.

She turned and smiled up at him.  Taking her mobile from her pocket, she found a number in her contacts and dialed.

It didn’t even ring.

_“Toshiko!”_ the unmistakable voice of Tim, sounding harried, answered the call.  _“I am sorry, but I have been down for the last one hour and forty-eight minutes.”_

“We know,” Toshiko answered, looking calm for the first time since they’d realised that the bio-computer was non-functional.   “Ianto used your backdoor codes to get access to your repair systems, and I noticed you just come back online.  We’re glad you’re back with us.”

_“As am I,”_ Tim answered warmly.

“Tim,” Jack said, and he couldn’t help but feel relieved.  “Can you tell us what happened?”

He sensed rather than saw Castle and Alexis approaching as Tim spoke once more.  _“I received a very powerful yet low-level telepathic burst that disabled my buffers and temporarily knocked me offline.”_

“Do you know where the burst came from?”  Ianto asked, and it was all Jack could do not to order him back into Owen’s domain for more tests.

_“Ianto, I am so very glad to hear from you,”_ the supercomputer said, sounding relieved.  _“I have not been able to contact anyone telepathically, however…”_

“Alexis and I were affected by the same burst that disrupted you,” Ianto explained.  “We’re recovering, however.”

_“If you were also affected, then logically the other Tomorrow People were as well.  As for where the burst originated, I cannot tell, although it appears to have been from somewhere in space.”_

“An attack of some kind?” Jack asked.  It had been hovering in the back of his mind ever since Ianto and Alexis had acted strangely. 

_“Possibly, Captain,”_ Tim replied.  _“Although, from what I was able to determine, the signal was claiming to be friendly.”_

“It was,” Alexis answered.

Jack wasn’t sure about that.  “It might have _claimed_ to be friendly, but someone wanting to be friends doesn’t go around knocking people out and overwhelming you, Tim.”

“It might not have known its own strength,” Ianto said, “but I think Jack is right, Tim.  A really big part of me wants to believe it, but maybe I’ve been working for Torchwood too long or something.  Or maybe I’m just plain paranoid.”

Jack was glad that Ianto wasn’t being duped by whatever had spoken to them. 

“And then there was Alexis’ and Jones’ reactions when they talked about it earlier,” Castle added.  “It was like they were hypnotised or something.”

“Yeah,” Jack said.  “Castle’s right…something was definitely off about it.”

_“Then we…”_ Tim’s voice faded off, and then returned, sounding relieved.  _“I have just heard from John.  He is well, although he too was affected by the burst.”_

“He was in America,” Ianto said.

_“In New Jersey, yes.  He was hoping to discover how alien technology managed to find its way into the hands of an American corporation.  Luckily he was at the home of a friend when the telepathic burst incapacitated himself and Allison.”_

“Allison?” Toshiko asked.

“She left the team just as I was joining,” Ianto said.  “She’s an immunologist at some teaching hospital."

_“I have also heard from Elena.  The burst has caused another of our number, Danielle, to go into premature labour and her husband, Terry, is still unconscious.”_

“They need a doctor,” Owen demanded.  “I can be ready in a minute.”

_“That would be greatly appreciated, Dr. Harper,”_ Tim said gratefully.  _“I shall send a matter transporter belt to you.”_

Jack didn’t like it, but he couldn’t argue with sending Owen.  After all, he hadn’t been lying when he’d claimed that the medic was the foremost expert on the Tomorrow People.  He was still concerned about Ianto and Alexis, but this was more important, especially with an unborn child involved.

_“I also have another report of the burst affecting a Tomorrow Person in Australia…and I believe we have several break- outs occurring at this moment.”_

“This was world-wide, then.”  Jack really didn’t like it.  If this signal had been felt all over the planet…no, this wasn’t good at all.  They’d need to figure this out, and fast.

“How many break-outs, Tim?” Ianto asked. 

_“I have detected six at this present time.”_

Jack turned to look at his lover.  Ianto’s face was strained, and he knew that his powers still weren’t quite up to snuff.  “I’m…getting one, it’s close.  I’d say somewhere near London.”

_“Ealing, I have determined.”_

“Tim, jaunt me to those coordinates –“

“No way,” Jack snapped.  “You’re not recovered yet from your own brush with whatever the hell it was!”

“Jack,” Ianto said calmly, resting his hand on Jack’s arm, “if someone doesn’t get to that break-out – to any of the break-outs – they could die.  We need to help.”

What Jack would have said was interrupted by Owen’s return, carrying two large cases and a third looped around his neck by a leather strap.  “I’m ready.”

_“Thank you again, Dr. Harper,”_ Tim said.  _“I am sending you the matter transporter belt now.”_

On Toshiko’s desk, the belt faded into view, draped across her keyboard.  It was made of a black webbed material, with a checkerboard white and black buckle.  A burnished gold disc was hooked to the belt.

After what had happened with the rogue UNIT General, Avery Carson, John had come to the conclusion that the jaunting belts the Tomorrow People used were much too recognisable to outside agencies.  He and Toshiko had redesigned them somewhat, making the belts thinner and incorporating a chameleon shift-like device in order to give them the ability to blend into whatever outfit was being worn at the time.  The matter transporter belts, however, were kept pretty much the same, although some of them had had the chameleon circuits also added; like the ones that Gwen and Rhys had been wearing in London. 

The one that had appeared just then was the older model, but then Owen wouldn’t need to have it blend in.

Owen juggled his various kits until he could loop the belt around his waist.  Once it was in place, he said, “Beam me up, Scotty.”

Tim chuckled.  _“You are not the first person to say that.”_

“You need new material, mate,” Rhys called out.  He and Gwen were standing just out of the way of all the excitement at Toshiko’s station, obviously to avoid making the area too crowded.

Owen casually flipped him off.

_“I have downloaded medical information for you on Danielle and Terry onto a handheld device,”_ the supercomputer went on.  _“You should be aware that Terry has a heart condition, and I have included scans detailing Danielle’s pregnancy.  I have forwarded it on to Elena and she will have it when you arrive.”_

“Yeah, let’s get this show on the road.  Tea-Boy, Alexis…no overdoing it.”  Owen waggled a finger at them as he disappeared from view.

Ianto looked like he wanted to argue, but Jack stared him down.   Instead, he straightened his spine and said, “Then, Tim, I need to get to that break-out in Ealing.”

“And I’ll be going with you,” Jack said, not even second-guessing himself.  There was no way he was leaving Ianto’s side right then.

He’d never seen a break-out before, only having heard of them from the others who had.   And he wasn’t about to let his lover go off on his own, in case something else happened. 

This time, Ianto acquiesced without a word.

 

**********

 

The next two days were hectic.

There had been a total of twelve new break-outs, two of them not making it despite everything the Tomorrow People could do.  Jack himself had been a witness to one of the deaths, when a twelve-year-old boy in San Francisco had panicked and had accidentally jaunted in front of one of the city’s ubiquitous street cars and had been killed instantly.  The other, a fifteen-year-old, had gained a form of pyrokinesis when his powers hit suddenly, and he’d burned down the family home with himself and his mother in it. 

John had really taken that second death harder than the first, and Ianto had taken Jack aside and explained that the Tomorrow People’s leader also could cause fires with his mind, although his ability had been mostly self-blocked.  He’d also set fire to his home, and his little brother had died in the blaze.  It had nearly broken John, and he’d only coped with prodigious amounts of work and by pushing the emotions of that day deep within until they’d come back to haunt him much later in life.  Ianto hadn’t been around when it had happened, but he said that Elena had told him it hadn’t been a good time.

Jack could see how that single act had molded the boy into the man he was today: someone who took his responsibilities very seriously, who was overprotective of his team and would do anything to protect them.

The break-out that he and Ianto had gone to in Ealing had led them practically to the doorstep of a former Companion.  The girl, named Maria Jackson, lived across the street from Sarah Jane Smith and her adopted son, and it had taken all of Jack’s persuasiveness to convince her that Torchwood didn’t have any notions of taking the Jackson girl away and experimenting on her.  Jack had cursed Torchwood One for having such a reputation, and once again he vowed to change what those in the know thought of him and his team.

He and Ianto seemed to make serious inroads with Ms Smith, but Jack could admit to himself that it was mostly Ianto’s helping with Maria that had done more to convince the former journalist that they hadn’t meant any harm.  Jack had explained just who and what the Tomorrow People were, and while Ms Smith seemed a bit wary of the partnership between Torchwood and the Tomorrow People even she had to admit that they’d been able to bring Maria through the worst of the break-out.

There had been no further incidents with the mysterious telepathic burst, for which Jack was grateful.  It was obvious that the burst had brought on the surge of break-outs, and John had actually called in reinforcements from the Galactic Trig to help.  Apparently the three who came at John’s call had been on the first and second of John’s teams, and it had taken all of them a great deal of cajoling to convince the families of those who had made it through their break-out to let their children go offworld in order to protect them.  Jack could see the reason why; if that so-called telepathic burst had knocked Ianto unconscious – and he had the strongest mental shields of all the current team – then the newest Tomorrow People wouldn’t have stood a chance.

And so, once the ten new Tomorrow People and their families had been transported off Earth, Torchwood went back to work on trying to find out what had happened.

To be fair, Toshiko had been working on just that problem all along.  She and Tim had done everything in their power to track down whatever had sent that signal, even leading Tim to reveal that the Tomorrow People had their own satellite system just outside the orbit of Jupiter.  Jack had teasingly accused the supercomputer for holding out on them; Tim had answered primly that it simply hadn’t occurred to him to say anything.  As Tim couldn’t lie to save his biological components, Jack believed him.

However, even with the Watchdog network online they could detect nothing in orbit that didn’t belong there.  Toshiko had become increasingly frustrated until Owen had physically removed her from her station and from the Hub, in order for the technician to get a breath of fresh air.

Jack knew how she felt. 

It was like they could only sit and wait for the next occurrence, and Jack didn’t want to do that.  The first time had been bad enough, and he didn’t want to see any of the Tomorrow People – hell, he didn’t want to see Ianto – incapacitated by whatever had broadcast that overwhelming signal. 

He hated feeling useless, and it was only Ianto and his being able to help with the break-outs that kept Jack from pulling his hair out, just from the sheer frustration.

However, it wasn’t any of their research or a repeat of the telepathic burst that gave them their first clue.

It was a certain mystery writer with a _Homo_ _Superior_ daughter.

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

 

**Chapter Five**

_‘Ianto,’_ Alexis’ mental voice called, and she sounded excited.

Ianto was glad of the interruption.  He’d grown increasingly frustrated with their lack of success in discovering where the telepathic burst had come from.  Not only had he been acting as go-between for Torchwood and the Lab, he had tried to conduct his own line of research into the source of the signal, to no avail. 

Also, there had been the couple of times when he could swear he heard that friendly yet cold voice telling him that he could trust it, that it was Ianto’s friend.  When that happened he would reach out with his mind and attempt to locate where it was coming from, but there would be nothing.  The one time he’d brought it up to John the elder Tomorrow Person had claimed not to have heard it, although John had admitted that he sometimes believed he’d heard it as well.    

Neither admitted it to Owen, despite Jack’s admonition to let the medic know if they heard anything.  They just couldn’t be sure that it was their own imaginations.

So, when Alexis spoke to him telepathically, Ianto was more than willing to put down what he was doing and listen. 

_‘What is it?’_ he asked, sitting back in his desk chair and trying to rub the kinks from his neck and back.

_‘I think my Dad has something.’_

That announcement made Ianto sit up and pay attention.  _‘Let’s bring John into this.’_ At Alexis’ agreement, Ianto sent out a message to John, inviting him to the conversation.

Once John was in both of their minds, Alexis repeated what she’d told Ianto.  _‘Are you certain?’_ John’s stern yet warm voice asked.

_‘Pretty certain,’_ Alexis answered.  _‘It makes sense.’_

She explained what her father had discovered, and Ianto couldn’t help but think she was on the right track.  _‘Let me get Toshiko on it,’_ he said, getting up from his chair. 

_‘I shall speak to Tim as well,’_ John replied.  _‘If this pans out, we should meet.  The boardroom there at the Hub would be large enough.’_

Ianto agreed, and then broke the connection.  He practically ran across the Hub, his haste catching the rest of the team’s attention immediately, and they followed him toward his destination, radiating their curiosity.

“Toshiko,” he exclaimed, coming to a stop at his friend’s station, “what do we have on the Archangel Network?”

 

**********

 

The boardroom was crowded, to the point where Ianto had to bring in extra chairs. 

Plus there weren’t enough mugs for everyone to have coffee, so a grumbling Owen had headed to the nearest Tesco’s to pick up some disposable coffee cups.  Ianto had had to bribe him with the good stuff, but it had been worth it, giving him time to get things prepared for the meeting.

The team had taken their usual seats at the large table, while the Tomorrow People had taken the extra chairs and a connection to Tim had been set up on a dedicated conference line.  Rick Castle had been offered a seat next to Toshiko, the better for them to give their presentation.   Alexis had pulled her chair up next to her Dad’s, and Castle had his arm around his daughter.  He said something and she rolled her eyes, and Ianto caught the echo of her thought as she jokingly told him off for being egotistical.

Jack was the only one standing, and while he tried to look calm, Ianto knew he really wasn’t.  He could make out the signs of stress on Jack’s face, and all Ianto wanted to do was get up from his own chair and give him a hug, but both men had professional lines they would not cross, especially in crowd conditions, as it were.

“Let’s get this started,” Jack called the meeting to order.  “First, thank you, John, for letting me run this meeting.”  The elder Tomorrow Person nodded in response.  “Now, it looks like we finally might have somewhere to start.  Castle?”

Castle sat up straighter and looked as if he wanted to preen a little, but then Ianto had come to realise that the man was a bit of an attention-seeker, perhaps even on Jack’s level.  “Okay, about five months ago I had an idea for a new novel, and went online to do some research into up and coming technology and new breakthroughs, especially in wireless and telecommunications.  In my search I found a rather new company called Magister Innovations LTD, with an office in New Jersey.”

At those words, Ianto could feel John sit up and take notice.  He sent a silent enquiry to the older Tomorrow Person, but John simply said, _’Later,’_ in a tone that would have had Ianto bristling if he wasn’t used to it by now. 

He also caught something from Elena, who didn’t sound happy with being dismissed.  Ianto wanted to grin but refrained; she could be sharp when she wanted to, and she often did with her lover. 

Then he realised that John had been in New Jersey when the telepathic burst had incapacitated them all.

That couldn’t be coincidence.

“The idea for the novel fell through,” Castle went on, “but Magister sounded like it was onto something, so I had my business manager sniff around for any sort of stock options that might be available.  I also got onto Magister’s e-mail list.  Now, I hadn’t had time to check my e-mails over the last couple of days, but when I did this morning I found this.”  He grinned at Toshiko.  “Doctor Sato, if you please?”

Toshiko tapped a command into her laptop, and a copy of an e-mail appeared on the large screen behind Jack.  Ianto sat forward as he read it.

Alexis had told him about the e-mail, but actually seeing it was a bit different.  It was obviously an official company document, judging from the letterhead on the missive.  Everything about the e-mail was meant to catch the eye.

And there it was.

_We’re excited to announce that the Archangel Network has passed its first test!  We managed to route several services through it earlier today with minimal loss of data.  There are still some tweaks needing to be made, but we don’t doubt we’ll meet our goal of having the entire Network up and running by the beginning of July._

The date of the email was the same day as the telepathic burst.

“How do we know this has anything to do with anything?” Owen asked.  “What the hell is the Archangel Network anyway?”

“Toshiko,” Jack replied, “give us what you and Tim have dug up on the Network.”

“The Archangel Network,” the technician began, “is actually a joint project between Britain and America, although the bulk of the work was done in London.  It’s a system of fifteen satellites, circling the entire planet.”

She tapped some more keys, and the visual changed, this one to a scan of Earth from space.  “This was taken with the Tomorrow People’s Watchdog Seven satellite. “  The picture changed once more, this one with an overlay showing where the actual satellites in question were in orbit.  “Tim and I plotted the orbits of the relevant satellites, so we know exactly where they are.”

_“At optimum position,”_ Tim said from the fancy conference phone in the center of the boardroom table, _“any signal generated by the network would be detected anywhere on the planet, and quite possibly from low-Earth orbit.”_

“And this network is supposed to be for…?”   Elena questioned from her seat next to John.

“Wireless communication,” Toshiko answered.  “Phones, computers, you name it.  Anything with a wireless connection is compatible with the network.”

“According to the propaganda,” Castle added, “any signal in the network is twenty times faster than current technology.”

“Which shouldn’t be possible,” Toshiko put in.

“Bloody hell,” Paul whistled.  “I bet people are jumping all over it.  The faster, the better.”

“It’s not being advertised publicly yet,” Castle answered.  “The Magister Innovations website says that won’t start for another week, and then a boatload of Archangel-compatible devices are gonna flood the market.  I’ve already pre-ordered a couple myself.”

“What I don’t understand,” Gwen said, “is how this has anything to do with that signal.  Yeah, I see that Archangel ran its test on the same day as it happened, but what would the company gain by attacking anyone with telepathic abilities like that?”

“That’s the question.” Jack rubbed his forehead.  “Tosh, have you or Tim come up with any reason for the low-level telepathic signal?”

Toshiko looked frustrated.  “Nothing, Jack.”

_“The problem,”_ Tim added, _“is that we have both been unable to gain entrance into the Magister Innovations computer systems.”_ He sounded very apologetic.

“There’s way too much security,” Toshiko said.  “Sure, I understand there’s all sorts of industrial espionage, but not even Microsoft is this paranoid.”

“There’s something else as well,” John announced, getting to his feet.  “Tim?”

_“John is correct.  Several weeks ago rumours reached us as to certain…practices Magister Innovations might have been doing, as to their technological advancements.”_

Ianto looked up at the elder Tomorrow Person.  He could sense the others’ understanding of just what Tim was saying by the rise of mental chatter at the back of his mind.

“This was what you were in New Jersey for,” Paul practically accused.

Jack frowned.  “Okay, what’s going on that we don’t know about?”  He looked a little put out.

“To be honest,” John admitted, “I had no idea that Magister Innovations was also behind the Archangel Network.”  He practically glared at the conference phone.  “Didn’t you think you could have told me, Tim?”

_“Yes, perhaps,”_ the supercomputer answered, _“however I thought that we should have all the pieces laid out at once.  It would not do to draw the incorrect conclusions when all of the facts are not known.”_

John rolled his eyes, but didn’t call Tim down any further.  “There were rumours that Magister Innovations had gotten a hold of alien tech and had reversed engineered it.  I had gone to New Jersey to take a tour of the facility…which of course I missed, as I was too busy being unconscious in Allison’s flat to make my appointment.”

“How were you going in?” Jack asked.

“As a science writer for a small-scale technical journal,” John answered.  “I needed to see first-hand what they had in their labs, and if I could identify any of it.”

“Do you think you could reschedule?” Jack asked.   “We really need eyes in there, to see what they’re up to.  And, if it’s alien technology, it would explain the reach and power of the network.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem,” John said.

Voices broke out around the table as everyone began discussing the ramifications of what it would mean if Magister Innovations had gotten their hands on alien technology.   Ianto sat there, biting his lip as he considered what had been revealed during the meeting.  He followed along with the suppositions his teammates were making, and for some reason he couldn’t shake the idea that something was wrong with their deductions.

_‘Ianto,’_ Elena said to him mentally, _‘what is it?”_

Trust Elena, the empath of their group, to recognize Ianto’s uncertainty.  _‘We’re not taking everything into consideration,’_ he answered.  _‘I can’t shake the feeling that we’re going in the wrong direction.’_

“Everyone!” Elena called out, both telepathically and aloud.  As she didn’t often raise her voice, it got the entire room’s attention.  Once it was quiet, she nodded to her friend.  “Go ahead, Ianto.”

He sent her a rather sarcastic mental thanks, which she happily accepted.  He wasn’t quite ready to share his musings, but Elena had forced his hand.

 “I have the feeling we’re going about this the wrong way,” he repeated for everyone’s benefit, somewhat embarrassed by the sudden attention.  “I think we need to ask the question: why would anyone imbed a telepathic message within a data signal?  What would be the reason?”

“Ianto has a point,” Elena agreed.  “We’re all so into the actual technology that we’re not asking why.”

Jack chewed his thumb thoughtfully.  “It could have been a function of the original technology and no one at Magister knew about it.”

“That would assume it was Federation technology,” John said, frowning.   

John was right.  The only true telepathic technology belonged to the Galactic Federation, since all of their member planets were mentally advanced. 

“Would Federation technology do what this did to all of you?”  Jack asked.  “Because, while I don’t know how the rest of you were affected, the team here saw how Ianto and Alexis reacted just when they were thinking about that signal.”

“The voice…it wanted to convince us that it was our friend,” Alexis murmured.  She shivered slightly. 

None of the Tomorrow People had reacted as he and Alexis had that one time they’d tried to describe it, for which Ianto was grateful.  There were still those few times when he thought it echoed in his mind, but those were also becoming few and far between, and he’d begun to keep his shields up constantly. 

“It might have wanted us to like it,” John snapped, “but there was something inherently _wrong_ with whatever it was.  I’m hoping that, if it happens again, that we can mostly block it out.”

Ianto nodded.  “It took me be surprise, but I don’t think it’ll be able to do it again.”

“But, if this signal is deliberate,” Owen mused, “then why trigger you lot?  How do they even know about you, anyway?  It’s not like the signal actually accomplished anything except knocking you all on your collective arses and bringing out several new Tomorrow People.  There was no rhyme or reason to it, and if there’s one thing we’ve all learned by now is that the bastards don’t do anything that doesn’t subscribe to some sort of plan.  Sure, the bad guys might posture and gloat, but they always have a reason for doing what they do.  So…why is this signal so important, and if it’s deliberately aimed at one very tiny section of the human population, what can you all do that they need you to do?”

There was silence at that, because no one knew the answer to those questions.

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

 

**Chapter Six**

Jack stood at Toshiko’s station, fidgeting while he watched the picture on the larger monitor move through an unknown hallway.

John had been able to reschedule his appointment at Magister Innovations, but had requested to be shown around the London office instead of the one in New Jersey, claiming that his journal had needed him back in England on short notice; truthfully, Jack had insisted it be close enough that Torchwood could react quickly if something went wrong and they somehow lost contact with Tim again.  The representative he’d spoken to – a woman named Emilia Cosgrove – had been perfectly agreeable, and had arranged to have John and his ‘assistant’ to tour the London facilities.

Which was where John was now, along with Toshiko.

It hadn’t been difficult to convince John to take Toshiko with him.  There was the chance that the telepathic burst could happen again, and while the elder Tomorrow Person felt he would be able to block it a second time, there was still a chance that he might be incapacitated in possible hostile territory.  Toshiko had volunteered to accompany him, to help in trying to identify anything they might see while in Magister Innovations labs, and to cover for him in case anything would occur.

She was also wearing the Eye-5 contact lenses.

Jack had wanted to go himself, but Ianto had talked him out of it, claiming that Jack was just a bit too flamboyant for the part of an assistant to a small-time journalist.  Plus, Toshiko could, in fact, be sneakier that Jack, and to that the immortal had to agree.  He was much better at swanning in and taking control than full-blown espionage.

Besides, he could see what Toshiko was looking at easily enough with the contacts.  That had also been Ianto’s idea, and Jack thought he should reward his lover for his quick thinking later.

So far, there had been nothing but offices and hallways, and a couple of labs that looked innocuous enough.  Jack stifled a sigh, but Ianto must have sensed something because he turned toward him, raising a rather eloquent eyebrow.

Jack rolled his eyes, and Ianto seemingly got the message, which was pretty good considering the Tomorrow Person couldn’t actually read his mind.

His lover was seated at the workstation, in control of the keyboard.  Ianto had put his foot down when Owen had wanted to send suggestive texts to Toshiko via the lenses, saying the last thing they needed was the technician giggling or blushing at an inopportune moment. 

It was quite crowded around the desk, with the full complement of Torchwood – minus Rhys, who was working – and Tomorrow People – plus Castle who should have been writing and wasn’t – watching the show.  The author had made appreciative noises when the contacts had been explained, and had even asked if he could borrow them on occasion.  Jack had denied him, giving him a lecture about alien tech in the wrong hands, and Castle had pouted. 

Alexis had barely stifled her giggles.

“I wish I had some popcorn,” Paul groused.  “This is plain boring.”

“You don’t have to watch, you know,” Elena shot back.   She was concerned for John, and not bothering to hide it.

“Children,” Jack chided quietly.  Elena blushed slightly, and Paul scratched the back of his head, embarrassed.

“Perhaps we should have patched the picture in through the screen in the boardroom,” Ianto said.  “It would have saved on the overcrowding problem.”

“But where’s the fun in that?”  Jack couldn’t help it, even with this mystery hanging over their heads and two of their own walking into possible danger, he still had to tease.

“Too bad the contacts don’t have sound,” Owen sighed.  “It’d be a lot better if we could hear what they’re bloody saying.”

Owen was right.  Jack wished they could hear what John and their tour guide were talking about.

Ianto and the other Tomorrow People had an advantage; John could relay the conversation back to them mentally.  “It’s basically just propaganda in order to make the company look good.  John’s just as bored as Paul is, only he has to pay attention in case the woman says something important.”

“Do you really think they’ll find anything?”  Castle asked.

Jack shrugged.  “Who knows?  But if Toshiko can get access to one of their computers, then maybe she can arrange to get us a connection.”

Toshiko and Tim had both failed in getting into the Magister Innovations’ computer systems, although it hadn’t been through lack of trying.  Whoever had programmed the firewalls had been a genius, and Toshiko had actually been a bit jealous of the skill it had taken to keep her and Tim out.  Tim also suspected that alien technology was involved in the sheer amount of security that had been installed about the Magister Innovations’ systems.  While Toshiko had been bothered, Tim had been impressed, as he’d said, despite himself.

Jack looked back at the monitor.  John and Toshiko were walking down yet another hallway, this one with glass panels along each wall.  As Toshiko looked, Jack could see that each panel looked into a lab, all white tile and steel.  A few of the labs looked used, while others were spotless and empty. 

“Those look like medical-grade seals,” Owen commented, leaning over Ianto’s shoulder to get a better look. 

That worried Jack.  “For quarantine purposes?”

“That, or maybe it’s just paranoia where cleanliness is concerned.  Could be a variation on the technological clean room.”

“That would make sense,” Ianto mused.  “If they were building delicate processors that couldn’t be exposed to open air.”

_“Much of the technology created for satellites are extremely delicate and require sterile environments,”_ Tim said from Ianto’s phone, sitting next to the keyboard.

“Tim has a point,” Castle said.  “I mean, it’s what I’ve seen in science shows on the Discovery Channel.”

They were right.  While Jack had absolutely no experience in working under such conditions, he knew most miniature technology needed clean environments in order to avoid damage on the cellular level.

And then, Jack thought he saw something.

He shivered.

“Ianto,” he said urgently, “tell Toshiko to look to the right, into that lab she just passed.”

His lover was already typing in the command to Toshiko’s contacts, and Jack wondered if he’d seen it, too.

It had been just a glimpse, but it caused Jack’s heart to race in either anticipation or fear, he couldn’t decide. 

Toshiko did as asked, apparently using the excuse of a dropped pen to get a second look into the lab that Jack – through Ianto – had indicated. 

Jack didn’t need to see her face to know she was confused by what she was seeing.

“Jack,” Ianto gasped.

He put a hand on Ianto’s shoulder, knowing that he had to recognize what Jack had, as well.

“Yes,” Jack murmured.  “It’s what you think it is.”  His mouth was suddenly very dry.

“Are you going to share with the class?” Paul snarked

Jack swallowed hard.  “It’s the TARDIS.”

 

**********

 

He was bombarded with questions, but Jack refused to explain until he could do it all at once.

Seeing the TARDIS in that lab through Toshiko’s eyes had been a shock.  More than a shock, really.  The only reason the TARDIS would have been in that lab was if the Doctor was a prisoner somewhere, which meant everything they’d deduced about Magister Innovations was most likely correct.

He finally had to retreat to his office, under the triple onslaught of Gwen, Owen, and Castle ganging up on him and demanding answers.  Alexis had managed to get her Dad calmed down, and Ianto had run interference with his teammates, allowing Jack to escape. 

There was nothing from either Paul or Elena, for which Jack was grateful, although he could guess they were reporting to John what had happened.

Of course Jack knew that the Tomorrow People were familiar with the Doctor.  When Jack had confided in Ianto about needing to find the Doctor to get some sort of explanation for his immortality, he’d arranged to get word out to friends in the Galactic Federation to be on the lookout, and to ask the Time Lord to come to Earth and speak to Jack.  He hadn’t heard anything, and he didn’t know if that was a good sign, or bad.

Perhaps bad, since it seemed like the Doctor was neck-deep in trouble as usual.

Jack sat down in his chair, leaning his head back and closing his eyes.  After all this time…he’d missed the Doctor at Canary Wharf, and the TARDIS had shown up on CCTV footage of the Plass just after they’d stopped Bilis Manger from resurrecting Abaddon, when he’d been out of the country with Ianto.  But Jack had set aside his need for answers in order to enjoy his time with Ianto, and to protect the planet from alien threats.  After he’d nearly lost Ianto when he’d attempted to save his converted girlfriend Jack had come to realise that he truly had all the time in the universe to catch up with the Doctor.  He could live his life just fine, and had in fact found something to truly live for.

He didn’t want to think of the Doctor, and yet he couldn’t help it.

Jack had no idea how long he sat there, but he was roused from his tempestuous thoughts by the quiet opening of his door.  “Jack,” Ianto’s soft voice floated over to him, “Toshiko and John are back.”

He sat up straight, smiling slightly at Ianto as his lover leaned against the door jamb, looking concerned.  “I’m fine,” he answered the unspoken question.  “It just wasn’t what I was expecting, that’s all.”

“I understand, believe me.  And I know how important this is to you, to talk to the Doctor…”

“No, not so much anymore.”  Jack stood and made his way over to his lover, wrapping his arms around Ianto and pulling him close.  “I’ve found something else much more important.”  He leaned forward, pressing his lips against his lover’s, knowing that despite Ianto’s inability to read his thoughts he knew just what he meant to Jack.

He pulled away, sighing.  “Let’s get this over with, shall we?”

Ianto smiled softly.  “I’ll be right there with you.”

Jack didn’t answer, but then he knew he didn’t have to.  Ianto could read him even without his telepathy, and would understand the silence.

For which Jack would be forever grateful.

**********

Everyone stood in various groups on the main floor of the Hub, and every head swiveled in Jack’s direction as he and Ianto made their way out of his office. 

Jack wanted to draw the attention away from himself, which really wasn’t like him, but he really didn’t want to explain about his time with the Doctor.  He’d long ago told Toshiko and Owen about his immortality, which had raised fifteen different sorts of hells from his allegedly snubbed teammates and a very long – and painfully embarrassing – physical from the medic.  They’d been hurt by his keeping the secret from them, when Ianto and Gwen had known, and it taken quite a bit of groveling in order to get back in the pair’s good graces.

He’d only explained the Doctor’s part in all of this to Ianto.  Jack only hoped the fallout wouldn’t be quite so bad this time. 

“That was the TARDIS,” were the first words out of John’s mouth as Jack made his way down toward them all.

“It was, yes,” he confirmed.

John cursed.  Jack was a bit surprised, since the elder Tomorrow Person didn’t do that very often.

“Care to explain to those of us not knowing what this bloody TARDIS is?” Owen growled belligerently.  He stood next to Toshiko, his arms crossed over his chest, and if his glare could kill Jack would have died permanently.

“The TARDIS,” Jack said, “is the Doctor’s time and space machine.”

There were various reactions to his announcement, from knowing nods to jaws dropping.  “You mean that box thing belongs to Torchwood’s Enemy Number One?” the medic asked.

“Former Enemy Number One,” Ianto corrected.  “He hasn’t been that since One fell.”

“Who is this Doctor?” Gwen asked.  “Wait…was this the ‘right kind of doctor’ you mentioned?”

Jack vaguely recalled saying that.  “Yes, Gwen…in fact, I’m pretty certain he’s the reason I can’t die.  I’ve been waiting to talk to him and find out why for over a hundred years now, and he’s never turned up in an incarnation that I could interact with…until Canary Wharf, of course, and then I missed him.”  He didn’t mention the time the TARDIS had been caught on the Plass’ CCTV; he’d carefully erased it when he’d seen it.

“I met him once,” Toshiko replied.  “It was when I had to cover for you, Owen, right after you were hired.”

“Space pig?”

“Space pig.”  They shared a knowing smile.

Jack hadn’t known about that.  “Why didn’t you put that in your report?”

Toshiko shrugged.  “He was still being hunted by Torchwood One, and I didn’t know at the time that you’d met him.”  She glared at him.

“Well, you can see why I didn’t say anything,” Jack tried to defend himself.  “The Doctor was the reason I was dragged into Torchwood in the first place.  I wasn’t about to give anyone any sort of clue about him if I could help it.  Besides, I was still hoping to meet up with him, to ask him about my little ‘problem’.”

“Excuse me.”

And that was when Jack recalled that there was one person in the room who didn’t know about his immortality.

Rick Castle.

_Damnit_.

Jack had already let the man into Torchwood, because of his relationship with Alexis.  Up until Rhys Williams, there hadn’t really been any civilians in the know, so to speak, and he hadn’t taken Castle into consideration.

The author was looking at him, the expression on his face saying that he really thought it was a good joke, but curious to know why no one was laughing.  “I think I need some clarification on a point that was just brought up…are we saying that you’re what, immortal?  How is that even possible?”

“It’s true, Dad,” Alexis answered for Jack. 

“Not exactly,” Ianto said, his face grim.  “Jack can die, he just doesn’t stay dead.”

“Semantics, Ianto.”  Jack put his arm around his lover, needing his support.  While he’d gotten very lucky with the people he knew and worked with accepting his immortality, he’d run into too many who couldn’t deal with it.  He could never expect everyone to take it so well, and it was worse when it was someone he actually respected and liked...not that he’d ever admit that he felt that way to Castle. 

“Truth, Jack,” Ianto said in kind, returning the embrace.

The incredulous look left Castle’s face, and he turned solemn.  “I can’t make up my mind if that’s a good or bad thing, but I’m leaning toward the bad.”

“I’ve seen so much,” Jack sighed, “and a lot of it has been wonderful.  But then I think about everyone I’ve lost…and it’s heartbreaking.”  He tightened his grasp on Ianto, his mind skittering to the certain knowledge that, one day, he’d lose this man he loved so much. 

No.  It was always best to live day by day, and not think that far into the future.

“I have a great imagination,” Castle said, “and I can’t even conceive of it.  How did it happen?”

“I have no idea.”  He told them about how he’d met the Doctor in 1941, and had travelled with him until the events in the Gamestation, and how he’d died.  “I just remember waking up surrounded by piles of dust that had once been Daleks, and hearing the TARDIS leave.  I hung around for about a week, when the silence and death got to me, and then I left.”  He went on about arriving far too early on Earth, and how he’d discovered he couldn’t die.  “I’ve been waiting ever since.”

“I think I’ve just gained a hell of a lot of respect for you, Harkness,” Castle admitted freely. 

Jack felt his face heat up slightly, and he nodded in gratitude.

“Do you think we can stop with the feelings and get back to business?” Owen snarked. 

John and Elena rolled their eyes in unison, and Toshiko smacked Owen in the arm. 

“Owen might have the emotions of a slug,” Jack chuckled, glad for a break in the heavy atmosphere, “but he is right.  We really need to figure out what Magister Innovations is doing with a time and space machine…and how they got it.”

“I tried to locate the Doctor telepathically while we were in their offices,” John explained, “but I didn’t sense him at all.  Either they have him blocked or else he wasn’t there.”

Jack knew that the Doctor himself was slightly telepathic, and had faith that John would have felt him if he’d been in the area, and he was almost pitifully grateful that the other man hadn’t given the third option…dead.  “I think it’s really a foregone conclusion that Magister Innovations has its hands on alien tech.”

Toshiko nodded.  “John and I recognized a couple of things that could very well have been Federation technology as well.”

“Then I think we should take action against the company,” Jack declared. 

“A raid might be too over the top,” John argued. 

“I have to agree,” Ianto said.

“So do I.”  Both of them looked surprised at Jack’s quick capitulation.  “This Archangel Network is apparently a big deal worldwide, and we need to tread carefully.  We still don’t know a lot about it, and it would be a really bad idea to give someone the idea of putting it into play early.  Certainly, it might be a benign use of reverse engineered alien tech, but we can’t depend on that.”

“So,” Castle spoke for all of them, “what’s the plan?”

Jack grinned.  “I was hoping someone would ask me that.”

 

 


	7. Chapter 7

 

**Chapter Seven**

Ianto felt grateful that Jack had trusted him with this part of the plan.

But, at the same time, a part of him was bothered to be missing the distraction that was currently going on in the lobby of the office building that housed the London branch of Magister Innovations.

Of course, he’d known the moment that the TARDIS had shown up within the range of the alien contact lenses that they would be going in after the time ship.  And, because of the contacts, they had the coordinates Tim needed to jaunt them in directly. 

And so, Ianto found himself, along with Alexis, teleporting into the lab that the TARDIS had been seen in.

Luckily, the ship was still there, and the laboratory itself was empty.  So was the hallway outside, and with a slight burst of his telekinesis Ianto jammed the hermetically sealed door, making certain no one could get in if he and Alexis were seen.  

It looked as if someone had been working on something in the lab.  All sorts of equipment was strewn about, and a single coil of cable led from a connection to a large computer and into the open door of the TARDIS.  A sickly red light shown from within the machine, and Ianto knew that couldn’t be right. 

In the back of his mind he could hear the running commentary that Elena was giving, letting them know just what Jack was up to.  It had been his lover’s idea to announce Torchwood, and hope that it would cause a mad scramble that would distract anyone within the building from the two other teams infiltrating the company.  Ianto could sense John two floors above, where he, Toshiko, and Paul were working to get any and all files downloaded to Tim before their presence was discovered.  Judging from what Elena was sending them no one had realised yet that there were others inside; however, it was also the weekend, which meant a skeleton staff was on duty.

It was why Jack had chosen that particular time to storm the building.

Ianto had expressed concern that they wouldn’t be able to get the TARDIS out of there, but Jack had been confident.  He’d explained that the ship was alive, and telepathic, and that Ianto could most likely convince her to help him pilot her if she was able to.  Ianto had to trust Jack as Jack had trusted him.

His eyes took in the cable, knowing that had to be disconnected first.  He was reaching down for it when he heard Alexis call his name.

Ianto turned to look at her, and was surprised to see how pale she was. “What is it?”

“Something’s…wrong with her,” his friend gasped.  “Can’t you feel it?  The pain?”

To be honest, Ianto had raised his shields all the way, only letting in his fellow Tomorrow People.   He’d been afraid of another burst from the Archangel Network – if that was where it had come from, they still had no proof of that – and hadn’t wanted to risk being incapacitated this far into enemy territory.

He glanced back at the TARDIS, and withdrew his shields a bit.

Ianto was hit by a sense of pain and sadness that nearly had him crying.

He shook it off.  They had to see about getting the time machine to out of there.  “Help me,” he asked.  “We need to disconnect her from whatever she’s hooked up to.”

Alexis visibly shook herself, and then moved over to where Ianto was attempting to figure out how to pull the cable from the machine.  It looked as if it was molded to the ceramic tile, and it took both of them and their telekinesis to finally work it out.

There was a mental sigh from the time machine as the cable came free.

“She’s still hurting,” Alexis said, “but it’s not as bad as before.”

Ianto had to agree.  “Let’s see what’s going on inside her, and see if we can fix it.”

Together they pushed the TARDIS’ doors open, and the feeling of pain nearly overwhelmed them.  It was all Ianto could do not to raise his mental shields once more, but he needed to be able to feel the sentience that surrounded them, even as he wept at whatever had been done to her.

The interior of the ship would have been impressive if it didn’t look so very _wrong_.  The red light seemed to come from everywhere, and a weak sound like a muffled gong sounded around them as Ianto and Alexis moved toward what had to have been the control console.  It must have once been amazing but for the conglomeration of equipment that was it out of shape and had been twisted into something sickening.

“What have they done to you?” Ianto whispered.  He might never have seen the inside of the TARDIS, but he could easily imagine how wonderful it would have been without all of this damage.

A soft, mental probe caressed his mind, and even though the TARDIS wasn’t actually speaking, she managed to get through to him what all they had been trying to accomplish, communicating in colours, and ideas, and in emotions. 

A paradox machine.

Ianto hissed.  The TARDIS retreated back into her pain, once she’d gotten her message across.  “We have to fix this.”  He had no idea what someone would want create a paradox for, but it had to be stopped, if just to save the TARDIS any more pain.

Alexis looked determined in the sickly lighting.  “It’s not right that they’ve done this to her.”

They both nodded in tandem.  “Close the doors and see if they can be locked some way.”  Jack had once shown him his TARDIS key, and realised that whoever had brought the time ship there must have had access to one since they’d been able to get inside.  Perhaps they’d stolen the Doctor’s. 

The young woman trotted back to the doors, and Ianto heard them shut.  He moved closer to the console, his eyes tracing the wires and tubing and everything that had been connected to it.  He also felt it out with his telekinesis, hoping to find some sort of weakness they could exploit, all the while wondering just what someone would gain by trying to convert a time and space ship into a paradox machine.

“The door is locked,” Alexis said, joining him.  “At least I hope so.”  Her eyes squinted as she also took in the mass of equipment before them.  “What are we going to do?”

“There’s only one thing I can think of.”  Ianto smirked as he reached out with his power and began ripping pieces away from the console.

Alexis whooped, and followed his example.  As they worked, the TARDIS began to sing; at first it was a disharmonious sound, echoing in Ianto’s head like a distortion.  But, the more they removed, the clearer the song became, and he found himself dropping his shields entirely in order to hear her better.

He could feel the TARDIS looking into him as they worked, and he allowed it, knowing she meant no harm.  He gladly showed her his memories, and he felt it as the time ship recognised Jack in his thoughts, letting her see his love for the immortal man. 

She approved.

In return, the TARDIS let Ianto see into her own mental matrix.  She showed him what had happened back on the Gamestation; how a well-meaning Rose Tyler had taken things too far and had made Jack immortal instead of only bringing him back the once.  Ianto felt her sorrow at what had been done to her beloved Captain, and her despair of him ever gaining a normal life once more.

Ianto didn’t know he was weeping until Alexis asked him what was wrong.

He dashed the tears from his eyes.  “I’ll be fine,” he told her.  “Let’s get this finished.”

The lighting in the control room was gradually fading into normal, the lurid red glow leaching away as they destroyed the paradox machine that had been forced onto the TARDIS.  The mournful gong also ceased sounding, and the singing surrounded them, echoes of joy teasing through their minds.  Ianto couldn’t help but smile as they released the TARDIS from her torment, and he could see Alexis doing the same even as he felt her fierceness.

The ship sang her thanks to them, but there was also worry in the celestial music that prompted Ianto to ask her what was wrong.  The barrage of sensation was too strong for him to comprehend, and as soon as she realised that the TARDIS slowed down, and he was able to digest what she was trying to tell him.

There had been a malfunction, and she had inadvertently travelled to the end of Time itself, to a dead world populated with the remnants of the human race.  A good man turned into a renegade Time Lord who had stolen her and had stranded her true master and his Companion in the far-flung future, at the mercy of a cannibalistic race that had overrun the world they’d been abandoned on.

Ianto was shocked to recognise the Time Lord who had taken the TARDIS and had attempted to twist her into something unnatural.  Perhaps that explained a few things…

The telling of her tale took only seconds, so quickly was the information transfer between ship and Tomorrow Person.

“I know where the Doctor is,” he told Alexis, explaining to her what the TARDIS had conveyed to him.

“That explains why John didn’t sense him in the area,” the girl replied.  “He’s only like trillions of years in the future.”

“And it’s going to be up to us to save him.”  Ianto rested his hands on the cleaned console, and the TARDIS’ song got stronger.

“How are we going to do that?  Unless you know how to fly her?”

“I don’t, no.  But Jack was hoping that I’d be able to convince the TARDIS to show me how, and she’s willing, only Jack wanted us to pilot her to the Hub.”

Alexis grinned.  “Looks like we’re gonna be taking a detour to the future?”

He returned the grin.  “I think that’s in the cards, yes.”

“That is so cool.  I’ve never been out of this time zone.  I was getting a bit jealous of the stories about working with the Time Guardians!”

Ianto smiled, thinking of the Time Guardians, the beings that eventually evolved from _Homo_ _Superior_ and replaced the Time Lords.  “Don’t feel bad; I never got to travel in time, either.  So this will be a first for both of us.”

With that, Ianto welcomed the sentient time ship into his own mind.

The TARDIS was all around him, inside him, a part of him, and Ianto could see more than he’d ever thought possible.  Every bit of her was there for him to touch, and he laughed in delight at everything he was being shown. 

Without thinking about it, he let his hands stroke the controls, the TARDIS showing him what he needed to do to pilot her through the time vortex.  It was a heady experience; he could feel the vortex surrounding them, even though he knew that it was the TARDIS experiencing it, and she was simply telegraphing those sensations to him.  

There was so much more to the TARDIS than what could be seen with the naked eye.  Her mind was so complicated, and Ianto knew it would take him centuries to experience everything.  Her lifeforce was near overpowering, and it wrapped him up in a blanket of calm as she gave him the coordinates he would need to reach her abandoned master and his companion.

“Ianto!”  Alexis was shouting his name, and he could barely hear her over the song the TARDIS was singing to him.  He glanced up at her from his work at the console, and she was staring at him in awe.  “Your eyes are glowing,” she exclaimed. 

Ianto found a shiny area of the TARDIS console, and saw that she was right: his eyes were, indeed glowing, golden smoke swirling within their formerly blue depths.  He couldn’t help but smile at the sight.  “It’s fine,” he reassured her.  “The TARDIS’ mind has merged with mine.  It’s just long enough for us to get to where we’re going.”  He went back to work, moving around the control console, feeling as if he’d done this thousands of times before.  “Once the Doctor is back on board, I’m certain he’ll be more than glad to take over once more.”

There was a small part of him that didn’t want to lose this connection.  The TARDIS’ mind reminded him of being around the Sophostrians, aliens of pure thought, and of the sharing that had been like melding with a force of the Universe.  The comparison was apt; the TARDIS was a creature of Time, and could harness that elemental energy to power herself throughout all of time and space.

It was also that same energy that had made Jack immortal, even as it also bound Ianto to the TARDIS’ enormous mind, giving him what he needed to have in order to achieve their goals.

That energy tingled in every cell of his body, and expanded his mind outward.  It was a gift to him, for aiding in the rescue of the Doctor, and for taking care of her Captain.  Ianto knew the changes to his mind wouldn’t last, but anything physical…that would linger. 

He thanked the TARDIS, even as he was terrified by the implications.

The time ship shuddered, and with a powerful lurch it came to a halt.  Ianto used the TARDIS’ communication system to check their surroundings, and what he saw outside had him acting quickly. 

“Alexis,” he ordered, “open the door.  The Doctor and Martha Jones are outside, and they’re trying to hold off the aliens.  They won’t be able to do it much longer, but if they let go they’ll be taken down almost immediately.”

“I’m on it.”  In fact, she’d already moved to the door, and had flung it open.  Ianto could actually sense the telekinesis she was bringing to bear on the door that the Doctor and his companion were desperately trying to close.  “Hurry!  I can’t hold it for too much longer!”

The Doctor looked confused and shocked and every emotion in between, but he grabbed Martha by the arm and dragged her toward the TARDIS.  “Who are you?” he demanded as he brushed past Alexis and into the TARDIS.

Alexis slammed the door shut.   “Get us out of here, Ianto!”

She didn’t have to ask twice.


	8. Chapter 8

 

**Chapter Eight**

This was the part of the job Jack enjoyed the most: throwing his weight around and making an arse of himself to people in authority.

That authority was the woman who had shown John and Toshiko around Magister Innovations, Emilia Cosgrove.  She was sharply competent, but Jack’s overbearing attitude was beginning to get to her, judging from the frown that marred her perfectly Botoxed forehead.

“I have no idea who you think you are –“ she snapped, her hands resting on her hips. 

“Captain Jack Harkness,” he answered, giving her his best shark’s grin.  “I’m not that forgettable, surely.”

He heard Castle snort softly from behind his right shoulder, and he didn’t need empathy to sense Elena’s amusement at the woman’s growing ire.  Jack took great pride in his ability to piss people off beyond what was normal, and he saved it for just such an occasion as this.

Not that he really expected much.  This was simply to divert attention from the other two teams infiltrating Magister Innovations. 

Finding the TARDIS would have been easy for Ianto and Alexis, since they’d had the coordinates from the Eye-5 contacts.  What would be difficult was if Ianto couldn’t, somehow, convince the old girl to show him out to pilot her to the Hub.  He could have gone himself, since he was familiar with the time ship’s systems and had flown her himself on a couple of occasions, but he was the Director of Torchwood, and he had the authority needed to get this particular job done.

There was still the chance that he could rattle enough cages that they would be let in for a more direct examination of the company’s records.  If so, then it needed to be him there, in order to give the proper amount of gravitas to the proceedings. 

Besides, if there was one thing Jack Harkness was built for, it was for intimidation.

The second team had a more difficult job.  John and Toshiko had been given the tour of the facilities, but they hadn’t actually seen the computer core.  Toshiko could extrapolate things from the recordings from the contact lenses, and she’d used that to attempt to pinpoint the core, thus giving Tim the best coordinates possible.  Once there, the two technologists and Paul could forge a link with Tim and the Torchwood mainframe, and gather as much information as possible before any sort of connection was discovered. 

Both Tim and Toshiko had been completely unable to crack Magister’s firewalls, leading the biotronic supercomputer to finally declare that alien technology must have been involved.  Both Toshiko and John had backed him up, which had meant they’d need to get everything directly through a download from the Magister Innovations’ mainframe.  That meant that they would have to get up close and personal with the aforementioned mainframe, and hack in from within.

He and Elena had worked out a set of gestures and code phrases that she could use if needed, and the hand on Jack’s arm communicated to him that both teams were in the building and were fine.  Not for the first time did Jack wish he was telepathic, so he could keep track of everyone instead of relying on Elena.  That wasn’t anything against her competency; it was Jack’s own need to be in control of everything.  Besides, that would have made talking to Ianto that much more fun. 

Ms Cosgrove’s face went redder than it had been before.  Jack hadn’t thought that was possible.    “Captain Harkness,” she ground out, and Jack could swear her jaw was so tight that she had to have been breaking her teeth under the pressure, “you have no right to come here and demand anything.  We are a private business, and we do not answer to you –“

“I’m afraid you do,” Jack answered, his grin turning into a knowing smirk.  “Torchwood jurisdiction includes anything I want it to be, and right now I want it to include everything within this building, especially what pertains to the Archangel Network.  Now, are you going to get your boss on the phone, or do I have to call my own?  And I assure you, Her Majesty doesn’t like being disturbed when she’s walking the Corgis.”

The remainder of the team – Gwen and Owen – was back at the Hub on standby in case a last-minute rescue was needed.  If Magister Innovations was determined to hold on to what they had, then it might very well lead to property damage and a need for Retcon.   Jack had his own Webley, and he knew that Elena and Castle both carried Tomorrow People-styled stun guns, just to be on the safe side.

Ms Cosgrove’s face turned mulish, and she looked as if she was going to argue some more.  Instead, she spun on her heel while slipping the mobile from its fancy holster on her waistband.  She dialed a number that must have been from memory, glaring back over her shoulder in Jack’s direction.  Jack simply gave her a flirtatious smirk in return, and then put his back to her to regard his teammates.

“I’m impressed, Captain,” Castle said, giving Jack his own smirk, this one pleased and not flirtatious at all.

“Thank you,” Jack replied, winking in return.  “Anything interesting going on, gorgeous?”

Elena rolled her eyes at him.  “Ianto and Alexis are at the TARDIS, and John and the others have found the computer core.  They’re working on it now –“

“Captain Harkness.”

Jack turned back toward Ms Cosgrove, who was holding her phone out for him to take.  “My boss wants to speak to you.”

“Thank you, Ms Cosgrove.”  He took the mobile, holding it up to his ear.  “This is Captain Jack Harkness.  Who am I speaking with?”

_“Captain Harkness,”_ a very familiar voice answered.  _“I would say this was a pleasure but I would be lying.”_

Jack couldn’t believe it.  “Mister Saxon.  Colour me surprised.”

The Minister of Defence chuckled, and Jack didn’t like the sound of it at all.  Saxon bothered him at the best of times, but to have links enough to Magister Innovations to have been called by Ms Cosgrove…no, this was so _wrong_ he couldn’t even define it.

_“Ms Cosgrove called me because Magister Innovations is working on several government contracts that are extremely sensitive in nature.  Now, you will stand down and leave London.  This is no longer Torchwood’s jurisdiction.”_

“And you would be wrong, Mr. Saxon.  All of Great Britain is Torchwood’s jurisdiction.  Just because there’s no longer an office in London doesn’t mean we don’t follow up issues here, and we will not stand down for you or anyone.   We have information that Magister Innovations has access to alien technology that they have reverse engineered.  We need to investigate that to discover if there’s any danger to the general populace.”

_“I order you to leave, Captain.  Magister Innovations has sensitive projects going on that are top secret, and your interference will not be tolerated.”_

“You can’t order me to do anything.  Torchwood is above the government, and as such you have no control over what me and my team do.”  Jack could understand why Saxon was bothered; if the government did have contracts with Magister, and if those contracts were reliant on alien technology…that could be messy indeed, and the last thing the Defence Minister needed this close to the elections was to be caught up in a scandal…even if the reason for that scandal could not be released to the public.  Saxon wanted to become Prime Minister too badly to let something like this get in his way, which just proved that Jack was right to have decided not to vote for the bastard.

_“Don’t you think your talents could be used better in other ways?”_ Saxon was angry, but there was no way Jack was going to give in.

“Not at the moment,” he answered breezily.  “Now, we have work to do.  We’re going to examine every inch of Magister Innovations…and if we don’t find anything, then it’s business as usual.  But if we do, then I’ll invoke my power as the Director of the Torchwood Institute to shut Magister down…government contracts or no.  You can recoup the losses by taking the owners of the company to court.”  That was something else they hadn’t been able to discover – just who owned the business.  Toshiko and Tim had been led around by the proverbial noses, through shell companies and private individuals until the trail had become well and truly muddled.  It was as if whoever did own Magister Innovations didn’t want to be found.

Jack didn’t care for that one bit.  It simply confirmed that something shady was going on, and at this point he was most likely going to shut the place down, Archangel Network and all, just on general principles.

_“I’ll find a way to stop you, Harkness.”_

“You can try.  But I’ve already sent a report to Her Majesty, and she agrees that things don’t add up.  None of us want anything to come back and bite us in the collective asses, now do we?”  Jack wasn’t being truthful; he hadn’t contacted the Queen as yet.  He really only had supposition that what Magister was doing wasn’t strictly on the up-and-up, and he need to prove everything first.  However, he wasn’t about to share that information with Harold Saxon.

Saxon was making spluttering noises over the line, and Jack just let him rant for a few minutes, to get it out of his system.  The threats and imprecations that the Defence Minister was spouting wanted to make him laugh.

Because he wasn’t paying much attention to what Saxon was saying, he noticed Elena go deathly pale.

Castle must have seen it as well, because he took her by the elbow, supporting her in case she passed out.  Jack was worried that the telepathic signal had begun once more, and that question must have shown on his face because Elena shook her head.  “I can’t hear Ianto and Alexis anymore,” she whispered, rubbing her hand across her forehead.  “One second they were there…and then, they were just gone.”

It was Castle’s turn to turn white, and the expression on his face told Jack that he was about to go storming in, and to hell with anyone who got in his way.

Jack put his hand over the phone’s receiver, letting Saxon talk to himself for a moment.  “Hey,” he said calmly, “they must have managed to take the TARDIS into the vortex.  You won’t be able to sense them again until they materialise.  Don’t worry, okay?”

Elena nodded, looking relieved.  Castle still seemed apprehensive, but he took a deep breath and was visibly settling his nerves.  Jack could understand his worry; Ianto was quickly becoming more than just a lover to him, and would have been worried sick if he didn’t know that the pair would be safe in the TARDIS.

It was one of the reasons he’d sent Ianto and Alexis after the time ship, so that they would be out of the line of fire in case things went pear-shaped.    He wasn’t about to let Ianto know that, however.  After all, he did want to have sex again before the end of the decade.

Still, he couldn’t help but be worried, so he asked, “Did you feel them die?”  The Tomorrow People would always know when one of their own died.  Ianto had likened it to hearing an echo of a familiar mind slipping away. 

“No, I didn’t,” she confirmed, gathering back her control and putting on her game face.

“Then they’re okay.”  Jack was confident of it.  He turned back to the ranting Saxon.  “Mister Saxon, if you’re finished,” he cut across the man’s yelling, “then the sooner we get started the sooner we can shut this place down…or clear the company completely.  Now, if you would give the order to Ms Cosgrove…” 

_“This isn’t over, Harkness.”_

“No, I don’t suppose it is.  Pleasure talking to you, Minister!  Have a nice day!”  He handed the phone back to Ms Cosgrove, who took it will ill grace.

She listened for a moment, and then her eyes grew wide.  “Are you certain?”  She went completely still.  “Yes, sir, I understand…yes, sir…I do think that’s inadvisable…yes, sir, very well.”  She snapped the phone closed, straightening her back in order to look imposing.  It didn’t work.   “Minister of Defence Saxon has ordered me to allow you access, but he requests that you come back tomorrow in order for us to gather all of the project notes together for your perusal.”

Jack sensed a delaying tactic when he heard one.  “Sorry, but the Minister doesn’t get to dictate terms.  We’ll go in now.”  He let a little bit of ice creep into his voice, communicating to her that he was past the point of negotiation. 

He stepped past her, fully intent on gaining entrance to the building. 

“No farther, Captain.” 

Jack turned, one eyebrow going up at the presence of the small gun in Ms Cosgrove’s hand.   “That’s not going to work, you know.  If you shoot me, then my companions will shoot you.  Is death worth it in order to keep Saxon’s secrets?”

The sound of another gun cocking had Jack quirking that same eyebrow at the security guard who’d they’d first tried to bully their way past.  “Three against two…still lousy odds.”

“Our Master has spoken,” Ms Cosgrove said, sounding almost mechanical.  “We follow his orders.”

The security guard had a somewhat constipated look on his face, but he didn’t argue with her.

“Your master?” Jack asked, confused.  What the hell?

He didn’t have time to question her any further, as her finger tightened on the trigger.  Damn, and he’d hoped not to die today…

The gun went off.

Somehow Elena had ended up in front of Jack, one hand held out in front of her.  There was the distinct sound of a bullet ricochet, and then the unmistakable whine of a stun gun in the split second afterward.

 Jack couldn’t help but grin as Ms Cosgrove sprawled inelegantly on the stone flooring.  “Now that was impressive,” he said, resting his hand on Elena’s shoulder.  He traded a nod with Castle as the writer swiveled his gun toward the security guard.

The man’s eyes were wide, the gun hanging from his unresponsive grasp.  Jack couldn’t blame him.  It wasn’t every day that someone deflected a bullet with just the power of their minds.

“You _will_ teach Alexis how to do that, right?” Castle asked, motioning with the silver weapon to indicate that the guard needed to leave the area. 

The man did, practically stuffing his gun back into its holster and racing out of the building.

“Oh, she already knows how,” Elena promised, lowering her hand.  She took a deep breath.  “It’s not that hard, it just takes reflexes and a lot of power.”

Jack wondered if Ianto could deflect things like that, and hoped he could.  It would mean he would be more difficult to kill, and Jack wanted to keep him around as long as possible.

“Oh,” Elena continued, “John says they’ve found the control room for the Archangel Network.  The others will meet us there.”

Jack moved out of the way, bowing slightly as he motioned her forward.  “Lead on, lovely lady.”

Elena grinned and then headed into the building.  Castle followed, giving Jack a roguish smirk but not saying anything.

She led the way up to the second floor and down a corridor with blank walls and a single door at the far end.  The place was practically deserted, but that was to be expected with it being the weekend.  Still, Jack had expected a few more employees in the building, what with the roll-out of the Archangel Network coming up.  But it meant less people to get in their way.

 Jack was just a bit worried about Ms Cosgrove’s calling Saxon ‘Master’.   Just what was the Defence Minister up to?  He knew the man was married, and this didn’t seem like some really kinky sex game to Jack, who had really seen most of them.  No, a sexual partner didn’t usually try to shoot someone on command.

The urge to shut down the entire company was so strong Jack had the sudden urge to go back to the Hub and dig out some of the alien explosives that had fallen through the Rift a couple of years back.  A scorched Earth policy concerning Magister Innovations seemed like a really good idea in that moment.

Elena had arrived at the single door, and it opened to reveal Paul, looking slightly ill. “C’mon in,” he said, throwing the door open wider to let them all inside. 

The room beyond was as long as the level itself, lined with all sorts of processors that flashed and hummed around them.  Chill air made Jack glad that he was wearing his greatcoat, while Elena visibly shivered.  Castle seemed to shrug it off, but then he was wearing a blazer in order to disguise the holster for his stun gun.   Jack still had to fight the laughter when he recalled the writer posing with the gun and pretending to make quick-draws with it.

Jack, being a gentleman despite what his reputation might say, shrugged off his coat and tucked around Elena’s shoulders.  “Thank you, Captain,” she said, smiling up at him. 

“You’re welcome,” he answered gallantly.  Jack quite liked Elena, and considered John a very lucky man indeed to have her in his life.

Paul rolled his eyes.  He didn’t comment, but said instead, “We’ve found a terminal down the way a bit.  John and Tosh are hacking it now, but so far what they’re finding isn’t good.”

Their trio accompanied the younger man through the maze of servers, Jack looking around while taking scans with his wrist strap.  They were a bit higher tech than Earth norm, and he could pick up some otherworldly metals twisted among the processors. 

Yes, just for that this place would be taken down.  Even just the tiniest bit of alien tech couldn’t be allowed to stand.

John and Toshiko were muttering to each other as they all approached the desk where the computer terminal had been set up.  Both had their own versions of pissed off on their faces, and they looked up as they approached. 

“Whatcha got, kids?” Jack asked.  Despite the greeting he knew he sounded grim.

He knew it was bad when John didn’t make some sort of comment about being called a kid.  “This is wrong, Captain,” he growled.  “Whoever built this used a combination of Federation and some sort of future tech…I’ve never seen it before.”

“It’s almost like that cube we found about a year ago,” Toshiko added.  “You know the one, right Jack?  The one you said was some sort of communications device?”

Jack did.  He’d suspected it was a Time Lord device called a hypercube, although he hadn’t been able to prove it.  He’d heard the Doctor once mention them, and it had closely resembled a certain device on the TARDIS.  It really had been an assumption on his part, but if whoever had built this had somehow gotten a hold of Time Lord technology…it had to have come from the TARDIS herself.  There was no other explanation.

“That’s not all,” John interrupted, as Jack was about to call to have everything shut down, “there’s a subroutine in the network that has a telepathic component to it.”

“The burst?”  It had to be, there was no other explanation.

The elder Tomorrow Person nodded sharply.  “If I’m reading this programming correctly –“

“And you are,” Toshiko agreed.

“Then this signal was embedded into the network on purpose.”

Jack frowned.  “So they did deliberately target the Tomorrow People?”  It meant someone had known about them and had wanted to affect them in some way…

Toshiko shook her head.  “No.  It’s a generalised signal…almost like a subliminal message.  John and I think it was meant to affect everyone on the planet.”

And suddenly, things began to fall into place for Jack, even though he didn’t have all of the pieces yet.  “That’s interesting, considering that Harold Saxon wanted us out of here.”  He explained about the phone call that he’d had with the Defence Minister.  “I don’t have all the answers yet,” he finished, “but I’m very certain that Saxon knows exactly what’s going on here.”

Understanding bloomed on the faces around the desk.  “The telepathic signal kept saying that it was our friend and that we should trust it…” Paul said.

“The elections are coming up,” John added.  Jack thought he was taking a huge leap in logic, but it made too much sense to dismiss it out of hand.  Saxon had a vested interest in the Archangel Network, and that had to mean something.  And, with the Network’s activation coming up, as were the elections…Jack just didn’t believe in coincidence.

“Wait a sec,” Castle interrupted, “are you saying this Saxon dude is trying to steal your election by sending subliminal signals and convincing people that they should vote for him?”

“Scary, isn’t it?” Jack asked.

“Hell, why can’t I come up with this shit in one of my novels?”

The laughter that exclamation caused broke up some of tension that had risen in the room. 

“Shut it down,” Jack ordered after a few moments.  “I want all of this destroyed before we leave.  We have proof of alien technology and that’s all we need.  Make sure Tim and our mainframe get copies of everything you find, and then erase it all.  If this is to win Saxon the election, then he’s just gonna have to go back and do it the old-fashioned way.”

“What about the satellites already in orbit?” Elena asked.

“We confiscate them,” Jack answered.  “I think repurposing the Archangel Network into something similar to your Watchdog system is the way to go.  More and more alien races are discovering the planet, and we can always use a first line if defence.”  Jack’s mobile rang.  “Yes, Gwen?”

_“Jack, chatter on the British Army channels have orders coming down to stop a terrorist incursion at the Magister Innovations building.”_

_“Best get your arses outta there,”_ Owen added, proving that Gwen had put her phone on speaker.

“We’re almost done,” Jack said.  “Owen, you’re my Second, use full Torchwood authority to get the army to back off.  Tell them we’re handling the terrorist threat and to stand down.”  He really should have expected Saxon to pull something like that.

_“You got it.”_

Jack heard him walk away.   “Gwen, I want you to put the Hub on partial lockdown.  No one comes in without my approval.  Don’t worry about us, we’ll be jaunting in.”

_“What’s going on?”_ she asked.

“I’ll explain as soon as we get back.  Just get the Hub locked down, all right?”

_“All right, Jack.”_ She didn’t sound happy, but she did as Jack asked.

He shut his phone.  “How long before you get everything done here?”

“Not long,” Toshiko reported, her head down and her fingers playing the keyboard like a maestro.  “Their firewalls might have been impenetrable getting into the system, but they didn’t do a thing to keep someone from transmitting out.”

“Good, because we might have company coming.”  He told them about the call-out to the army.  “Seems like Saxon was really unhappy about us showing up on his proverbial doorstep.”

“You all really know how to stir up a hornet’s nest,” Castle whistled, impressed.

Jack was going to reply, but the unmistakable sound of time and space being torn aside to make way for a certain time machine landing.

He couldn’t help but grin.

The TARDIS had arrived.


	9. Chapter 9

 

**Chapter Nine**

“I’m asking again,” the Doctor snapped, putting himself between Ianto and Martha Jones, “who the hell are you?”

Ianto was too busy at the console, and he telepathically nudged Alexis to explain.  She mentally rolled her eyes at him.  “I’m Alexis, and this is Ianto.  We came to rescue you, which is obvious since we’re here now and we helped you escape whatever those things were.”

Another presence tickled against his mind, but Ianto pushed it back effortlessly.  “That’s a bit rude,” he chided the Time Lord, setting the TARDIS to hover in the time vortex until explanations could be made.   He really wanted to rush home, but this was a time machine, after all, and she was assuring him that they would get back to the team minutes after they’d left on their trip to the future.

He stopped his trip around the console, taking his first close look at both the Doctor and his Companion.  He was rocked back on his heels as Ianto realised that he could actually _see_ Time spinning around the Doctor.  It was an overpowering vision, and he had to dial back his connection to the TARDIS in order not to be ill.  “I don’t like it when someone tries to get into my head,” he went on.  “I’d never do that to you, so I would appreciate you not prying into my mind.”

The Doctor’s eyes widened, and Ianto knew his appearance must have been somewhat off-putting, with his melding with the TARDIS showing in his eyes.   “You can’t,” the Time Lord gasped, taking a step forward.  “What have you done?”

“As Alexis said,” Ianto pointed out, “we’ve just rescued you.   The TARDIS showed me how to fly her, so we could do that very thing.”

“You…” the Doctor swallowed, hard.  He looked at a loss for words.

“The TARDIS and I have melded,” Ianto explained.  “It’s only temporary, I assure you.” 

He really didn’t mind being connected to the TARDIS’ mind as he was.  She was a calm presence in his head, and he could see so many things…know so much, it was fantastic.  She was gentle as well, knowing that his brain wasn’t as advanced as hers was, and she was very careful about overloading him.

“Well,” Martha Jones said, leaving the Doctor’s shadow and moving forward, “if he’s not gonna say it, I am.  Thanks for coming to get us.”  She held out her hand.

Alexis accepted it.  “You’re welcome.”

Martha offered her hand to him as well, and Ianto smiled softly.  “I apologise if I don’t shake, but I have a headful of a very powerful mind right now and I don’t want to accidentally broadcast them to you through skin-to-skin contact.”  He was barely able to shield his mind from Alexis, and the last thing he wanted to do was overwhelm anyone, especially someone who wasn’t prepared for it.

“You’re _Homo_ _Superior_ ,” the Doctor said, almost accusingly.

“Yes we are,” Alexis said.  “We call ourselves the Tomorrow People.”

Martha was giving the Time Lord a funny look.  “So, I’m guessing by the term _Homo_ _Superior_ that you’re from the human family tree.  Are you from the future, then?”

Ianto wondered how she knew enough about genetics to have assumed that, and the TARDIS supplied the information that Martha was a medical student.  “Actually,” he answered, liking her almost at once, “we’re from June, 2008.  We’re just a bit more evolved than _Homo_ _Sapiens_.”

“We’re the next stage in human evolution,” Alexis added proudly.  “And there are more of us every day.”

“That’s how you’re communicating with the TARDIS,” the Doctor said sharply.  “But all that power should be burning up your mind, no matter how advanced it is!”

“The TARDIS is only showing me what I can take,” Ianto said.  “She’s well aware of my limits and is respecting them.”

“We’re telepathic,” Alexis told Martha at the companion’s confused look.  “We can also teleport and we can move things with our minds.  Those are just our basic powers, though.  Ianto has an eidetic memory and really strong shields, and I’m kind of a genius.  John says I might develop other minor abilities but I’m still growing into my powers.”

“John Dixon is still your leader?” the Doctor asked.  He stood there, arms crossed over his chest belligerently.   

Ianto wondered if the Doctor was going to threaten to tell his father on him, and he almost laughed at the notion.   “Yes he is, although I’m more with Torchwood now than with the main team.” 

The Doctor’s eyes narrowed.  “You’re Torchwood?”   He didn’t need to be a telepath to feel the Doctor’s suspicion.

Ianto had expected his anger; after all, he’d been at Canary Wharf as well, and knew what One had been responsible for.  “Torchwood Three, although I was undercover at Torchwood One until it fell.  John did try to convince people that what Yvonne Hartman was doing was wrong, but no one listened to him.  Then it was too late, and we all know what happened then.”

“How can the Tomorrow People trust Torchwood?  Do they even know who you are?”

“Yes, the current Torchwood knows who I am.  In fact, I’m the liaison between the teams, and we’ve worked together quite well.  It does help that the current Director is very friendly toward us.  You should know him…Captain Jack Harkness.  I do believe he’s a former Companion of yours.”

He would have been surprised at the Doctor going pale at the mention of Jack’s name if Ianto hadn’t already heard the story of what had happened on the Gamestation.  “Jack…involved with Torchwood?”

“Yes, not that he had any choice in the matter at first.  Now, though, he’s changed it into something good.”   He was so proud of Jack and what his lover had managed to accomplish even after everything he’d been through, and didn’t care who knew it.

Ianto then took a great deal of pleasure telling the Doctor all about Jack’s wait for him, so he could get the answers he’d needed.  He spared the Time Lord nothing, not even bothering to hide his own contempt for the Doctor’s behaviour.  The first time Ianto had heard about how Jack had awakened, alone on the Gamestation, it had taken all his self-control not to go and hunt the alien down himself, and instead had contented himself with putting the word out to every Federation world he could, to contact the Trig in case the Doctor showed up anywhere within their sphere of influence.  Ianto’s friends on the Trig would then see to it that word got back to him about it. 

He’d told Jack what he’d done, but didn’t admit it was because Ianto would do anything to overcome his genetic pacifism in order to beat the shit out of the alien.  He figured he could justify it as defence of a loved one, because Jack needed that defence when it came to the Doctor.  After all, how could anyone be so uncaring about a person who’d just died for them? 

No, there was no possible excuse for it.

More telling, the TARDIS didn’t try to defend her master over his abandoning Jack on the Gamestation.  Only a deep sense of melancholy and loss seeped into his mind, and Ianto could tell the time ship was well and truly sorry for her part in events, both in making Jack immortal and for leaving him surrounded by all that death...even though she hadn’t really had much of a choice in either matter.

“You abandoned this Jack person?”  Martha demanded.   “And he was supposed to have been your friend?”

“I was sick at the time –“ the Doctor attempted to defend himself.

“But you didn’t go back after you got better?”  Martha snapped.  Ianto wanted to applaud her for her anger on Jack’s behalf, especially since she’d never met Jack before.  He wondered if she might want to come to work for Torchwood; it seemed as if she’d fit in perfectly. “He gave his life for yours, and that was how you repaid him?  Is this what happens with all your companions, you get tired of them and just drop them off somewhere and don’t bother to come back?”

“Look,” Alexis broke in.   “You can apologise to Jack once we get back.  Right now, there’s still stuff going on and we need to take care of business before we get all pissed off at one another.”   She didn’t look happy either, but at least she was trying to get things back on track.

The Doctor spluttered, and Ianto wanted to hug her, but he didn’t want to overwhelm her mind with any accidental skin-to-skin contact.

 “You’re right, of course.”  He straightened up, putting his business face on.  He could deal with his anger toward the Doctor later.  For now, he needed to explain what was going on, and what they might find when they get back to when they’d left.

Instead, he went on to tell the Doctor and Martha everything that had been happening back in 2008.  He knew from what the TARDIS had shown him that everything had started when the Master had stolen her, and that was where he started. 

The Doctor interrupted him several times, mainly to argue points with him, but Ianto didn’t let his temper get to him again.  It wasn’t worth it, when there had been an insane Time Lord with access to at least eighteen months of Earth’s time, causing however much damage.  It might even take years to repair whatever Saxon – the Master – had twisted. 

They would have their work cut out for them, to fix things.   The cover story alone was going to need to be epic.

Of course, it could have been worse, according to the TARDIS.  If the Doctor hadn’t managed to jam her coordinate system, making it impossible for the Master to go anywhere except between the far future and the current time like some sort of bizarre, time-travelling yoyo, he would have had access to all of space and time.    

Still, it was amazing what the Master had managed to accomplish in such a short time.  His background as Harold Saxon was nearly perfect; Ianto had run a cursory background check himself, when Saxon had come to power after shooting down the Racnoss ship…and the TARDIS gladly supplied the fact that the Master hadn’t had anything to do with those events, he’d simply ridden the Doctor’s proverbial coattails into notoriety.

He shivered at the thought of the Archangel Network being activated.  Knowing what he did now, it would have been a disaster.  And that wasn’t simply because of what that signal would have done to his own people.

“I can’t believe it,” Martha gasped.  “An alien actually got himself appointed to Minister of Defence?”

Ianto nodded.  “Can you imagine what would have happened if he’d been elected to Prime Minister, if he’d managed to brainwash everyone with the Archangel Network?”

And then, the TARDIS filled his mind with even more information.

Ianto couldn’t help but be outraged. 

“Saxon was going to take over the Earth,” he told his audience.  “He was going to turn the TARDIS into a paradox machine and then open a portal to the end of time, where the remnants of the human race were waiting, changed into something horrible.  He was going to use these poor, mad creatures in his quest to destroy everything in his path.”

The Doctor paled once more.  “A paradox machine!”  He ignored Ianto’s presence at the console, checking the time machine’s systems. 

“Alexis and I took care of it,” Ianto answered simply.  He motioned toward the piles of metal and glass and plastic around the room. 

Wise, old eyes met his.  “Thank you for that,” the Doctor said.

“She was in pain,” Alexis put in, “and we weren’t about to let that go on.”

“We need to stop the Master,” Ianto added.  “Our teams are already working on that.  In fact, they were part of the raid on Magister Innovations, the one where we freed the TARDIS.   By now they must have taken care of the Archangel Network.  We need to get back and get to Saxon before he pulls a runner.”

He hoped that Jack and the teams had done just that.  Despite the boost his powers had gotten from being melded to the TARDIS, Ianto couldn’t reach out through time and contact any of the Tomorrow People, to let them know what was going on and what they’d discovered. 

Even the TARDIS couldn’t do that.  He felt her sorrow, but he understood.  His all-too-human mind would be unable to deal with the stresses of navigating the time stream as her own could do, and it wasn’t worth the risk. 

“Then we should get back to the right time.”  The Doctor began running around the console, pulling switches and turning dials, dodging around Ianto when he didn’t move out of the way.  On his second circuit, the Time Lord said, “You can move any time you want.”

Ianto raised an eyebrow.  “Why would I want to move?  I’ve already set the coordinates.  You’re just making it look like you’re actually doing something.”

The Doctor gave him a dirty look, while the TARDIS chuckled within Ianto’s mind.  Martha giggled, and Alexis rolled her eyes. 

It seemed like seconds before the console chimed, signaling their landing.  Ianto could suddenly sense his fellow Tomorrow People, just outside, and even Toshiko’s and Castle’s thoughts were clear…

As was Jack’s.

In all the time Ianto had been with Torchwood, he’d never been able to feel his lover’s mind.  Jack had claimed that he had natural shields, augmented by whatever had made him immortal.  Now that the TARDIS had explained what had been done to Jack, it seemed easy to by-pass the vortex cycling though his mind and to get to the hidden thoughts.

Jack’s thoughts were worn with responsibility and care, and ground down under the long years he’d lived.  However, underneath all that Ianto could sense a chaotic joy, and it was with not-so insignificant happiness when he realised that he, himself, was the cause of it. 

Ianto had always known that Jack would never give his whole heart to anyone, knowing that, some day, he would lose them to death while he continued on.  The Tomorrow Person had accepted that, grateful that Jack would give even the smallest part of himself to someone who would die in such a short span of time compared to Jack’s own horrifically long existence.  But this…this was something that Ianto had not anticipated, and it made his own terror at what the TARDIS had given him a little less harsh in the light of it. 

The TARDIS was humming in what could only be smugness, and Ianto laughed.

And then, ever so slowly, the time ship began withdrawing her mind from his.

Ianto was sorry for her to leave, but he wouldn’t be able to step outside those doors with her thoughts so completely meshed with his own.  He knew though that they would forever have a bond, and that bond would be something he would cherish. 

He ran his hand along the console, sending her his sadness at their parting, but his gratitude at the glimpse he’d gotten into his lover’s own mind.  She sent back her own love, and joy at their meeting, plus her own gratitude at her rescue.  Their connection had been the strongest that she’d ever had with another person, even her own master, and Ianto knew that she would miss it, but she was the thief who had stolen her Time Lord as surely as he’d stolen her, and that went far beyond what she and Ianto had shared.  The TARDIS might not have been very happy with the Doctor over what had happened with Jack, but she would always love him best of all. 

She would be with him until the end, and that was the way it should be.

Ianto’s knees buckled once the TARDIS had completely withdrawn, and would have gone to the floor if not for Alexis suddenly appearing beside him and holding him up.

“Good thing I can do this with telekinesis,” she joked, “because you’d be too heavy otherwise.” 

“Thanks for not letting me fall,” he murmured.  “Sorry, I didn’t realise how much it was taking out of me to stay in meld with her.”

“Anytime,” she returned.  “That’s what Tomorrow People do, right?”

“Yes, they do.”  He rested his arm over her shoulders, weakly hugging her.   “Let’s get out of here, shall we?”

The Doctor was already at the door, and Ianto could tell that he couldn’t wait to get them all out of his time ship.  Which was fine with Ianto; he wanted to be back with his friends and with Jack, who was just outside.  He could read what had happened while they’d been gone even before, and he exchanged a glance with Alexis, who nodded. 

_‘Seems we missed some interesting stuff,’_ she said mentally. 

_‘At least you got to finally travel in time.’_

_‘Yeah, but I didn’t get to see much!’_

_‘Next time.’_

Alexis didn’t answer, but she was a Tomorrow Person, and there was no telling what they’d be getting into next.  Time travel was very possible.

Ianto’s legs felt like rubber as Alexis helped him move, and he was grateful to her.  He felt as weak as a kitten after sharing minds with the TARDIS, but it had been worth it.  As they made their way out of the doors, Ianto could feel her saying farewell.  Not goodbye…no, Ianto had a distinct feeling that he’d be seeing the TARDIS again some day.

The first person he saw was Jack. 

Ianto couldn’t help but smile.

 

 


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

The TARDIS came to land between two of the server stacks, and Jack found himself bouncing on the balls of his feet, knowing that Ianto had to be within and wanting to see his lover again.

He was a bit confused, though.  He’d told Ianto and Alexis to get the TARDIS back to the Hub and out of danger, and then they could try to locate the Doctor and whoever he was travelling with this time.  Of course, the time ship had a definite mind of her own, and even though Ianto must have convinced her to show him how to fly her, she would always go where she needed to…and this was it at the moment.  If Owen couldn’t call off the Army, then they would be surrounded.  Tim could teleport them out, though, so Jack wasn’t certain what had brought the TARDIS to them instead of flying to freedom.

The doors opened, and instead of Ianto and Alexis, the Doctor emerged.

Jack didn’t quite know what to think.

Over a century of waiting was over.  He could finally get the answers he desperately needed, and if he could be ‘cured’ of his immortality.  Now, more than ever, did he want to be able to spend a natural lifespan with someone, and that someone was Ianto Jones.  He couldn’t think of the last time when he wanted something more. 

And there was the Doctor, looking irritated and accompanied by a young woman who looked as equally irritated as he did.

But where was Ianto?

Jack’s chest was aching.  Had something happened?  Shouldn’t Ianto and Alexis been with the Doctor?  His imagination was throwing up scenarios that Jack didn’t want to consider –

Then Ianto appeared, supported by Alexis.

Relief hit Jack like a tidal wave.  He dodged past the Doctor, and he knew that Castle was right behind him, wanting to get to Alexis.  He quickly took the girl’s place at Ianto’s side, slipping his arm around his lover’s waist and taking on his weight.   “Are you all right?” he asked worriedly.

Ianto nodded.  “Just exhausted.  Communicating telepathically with the TARDIS was harder than I thought.”

“We’ll get things taken care of here, and then you can rest.”  Jack glanced over at Alexis, who was snuggly held in her father’s arms.  “Kiddo, you’re stronger than you look,” he couldn’t help but say, impressed, knowing she had to have been using her telekinesis to hold Ianto up.

Alexis rolled her eyes good-naturedly.  “Never underestimate the power of a woman, Captain.”

“Amen to that,” Elena exclaimed.

That was when everyone on the teams that had infiltrated Magister Innovations converged, and it was a big group hug, although Elena had to pull John into it as the elder Tomorrow Person protested about propriety and there being a right time and place.   He sounded remarkably like Owen.

“Where’s the Master?” the Doctor’s voice interrupted their reunion, and they broke apart in order to stare at the Time Lord as he stood there, his expression thunderous.

“The who?” Paul asked.

“He means Harold Saxon,” Ianto answered. 

“Yeah, apparently the guy’s a Time Lord too and he calls himself the Master,” Alexis added.

“Why do the bad guys have to give themselves such pretentious titles?” Castle asked.

Jack frowned.  “You said you were the last.”  He thought back on some of the UNIT files he’d read on an alien calling himself the Master; that had been back when the Doctor’s third incarnation had been trapped on Earth and had been working for UNIT.  Jack had always assumed that the Master had also died during the Time War.

“I am,” the Doctor answered.  “Or I was, until we came across the Master in the far future.”

“So this other Time Lord has been the one behind everything?” John demanded.  At Ianto’s nod, he went on, “An alien attempting a takeover on a closed world is a Federation matter.”

“No,” the Doctor snapped.  “The Master is my responsibility.”

“Not if he used stolen Federation technology to do it,” John countered, “as well as acts of assault on Federation citizens.  Two emergent Tomorrow People died as well as an innocent because of your so-called Master.  That means we’ll take care of it.”

Jack’s mobile rang, interrupting what was about to become a slanging match between both men.  “Yes, Owen?”

_“Got the Army called off,”_ the medic reported.  _“The colonel I talked to was perfectly willing to let Torchwood handle it, although he said something about a bottle of scotch…”_

That would have been Colonel Brimmicombe-Wood then.

“Well done, Owen.  We’re just finishing up here, keep watching our backs.”

_“Yeah, well, now I know why you usually have Tea-Boy mess with the liaison shit, cause you better not ask me to do it again, okay?”_

Jack laughed.  “Yes, Owen.  Still, good job.  We’ll be back at the Hub soon, and I’ll want you to give Ianto a once-over.  I’ll explain when we get there.”   He hung up.

“I take it we don’t have to worry about the Army?” Toshiko asked.

“Nope.  Owen used his usual charm – and the Torchwood command codes – to get them to let us handle this.”  He slipped his phone back into his pocket.  “Now, I suggest we get things done here.  We still have a Defence Minister to catch.  And no,” he waggled a finger as the Doctor opened his mouth, “we are not going to argue jurisdiction right now.  If anything, Torchwood has the final say in anything like this, and the Federation even signed an accord on that score.”

John nodded.  “Agreed, Captain.  We should take this Master into custody before we decide anything.”

“How is it that the Tomorrow People even trust Torchwood?” the Doctor asked.  “Torchwood was responsible for Canary Wharf!”

“No,” John corrected, “Torchwood _One_ was responsible.  Both Captain Harkness and I tried to stop the ghost shifts, but our contacts in the government wouldn’t listen.  You cannot tar an entire organisation with the brush of one person’s megalomania.”

Jack wasn’t about to admit how grateful he was for John standing up to the Doctor for his Torchwood like that.  All too often various people took the same opinion as the Doctor, and Jack would have to defend himself.  It was tiresome, but he was willing to do it in order to keep the Earth safe.

“Besides,” Elena said, resting her hand on Jack’s shoulder, “Captain Harkness and his team prevented a rogue UNIT general from releasing a virus that would have killed every Tomorrow Person on the planet.  Of course we trust him.”

“Hell,” Castle added, “I wouldn’t trust Harkness to be alone with my daughter, but he’s a good man.  He takes his responsibilities seriously and you have to respect that.”

Jack couldn’t help but stand a little straighter under all the praise.  It felt as if everything he’d ever done was being vindicated…and it was the vindication that he’d hoped to receive from the Doctor, and not the friends standing around him.  He wanted to thank them all, but instead looked at Castle.  “You wouldn’t trust me alone with Alexis?”  He pouted.  He did know that Castle had trusted him with Alexis before, and took what he said now with a grain of salt. 

“Yeah, I’ve seen your flirting, Harkness.  If you did that with Alexis I would have to do my fatherly duty and kill you.  And remember…I write mysteries for a living.  I know how to pull it off without leaving any evidence.”

Since Castle was aware of his immortality, Jack knew it was a joke.  Still, perhaps when Alexis was older, he might just flirt with her just to irritate the man…

_‘Don’t you dare,’_ Ianto’s voice was warm in his head.  _‘I hate cleaning up after one of your deaths.’_

“You –“  Jack was struck speechless.  Ianto had once told him that he couldn’t hear Jack’s thoughts, that his mind was utterly quiet.  Jack had explained about the mental training he’d received from the Time Agency, but on top of the run-in with Mary and the telepathic pendant and Ianto’s comments about not being able to read him Jack had guessed his mental silence was something more than that, and he’d often wished that Ianto could hear his thoughts, and that they could somehow communicate mentally.

Now, it seemed that they could.

Jack couldn’t help the soppy grin that spread across his face.  _‘How?’_ he asked, transmitting the question as he’d been taught all those years ago and far into the future.  Ianto usually could read surface thoughts except Jack’s own, and he wanted to know if this was just a one-off thing.  Besides, it was difficult for a Tomorrow Person to communicate with a normal human brain…not that Jack’s was, but he certainly wasn’t _Homo Superior._

_‘I have several things to talk to you about, but not now,’_ Ianto replied, smiling.  _‘When this is all over, I promise.’_

The other Tomorrow People were looking at the pair of them.   Ianto nodded, which meant that one of them had asked him about it, and he’d answered.

“Now,” Jack got them back on track, “we need to go and collect Mr. Saxon before he realises his call to the Army is being ignored.  We can’t risk him getting away.” 

His conversation with the Doctor would have to wait. 

“He’ll most likely be at his office,” Ianto said. 

“Tim has the coordinates,” John added.  “We can jaunt there easily.”

“That won’t be necessary.”

As one, the group turned toward the voice.  Jack had recognised it right away, having had to deal with the man on a weekly basis.

Harold Saxon stood next to the TARDIS, holding out what looked like a sonic screwdriver in their direction, although Jack doubted it was that innocuous.  There was a manic expression in his eyes, and he was practically dancing in place. 

“Well,” he drawled, “I seem to have underestimated Torchwood, it appears.  I should have followed my instincts and put you safely out of the way.” 

Jack surreptitiously turned his body so that he was between Ianto and whatever weapon the Master was waving about.  The last thing he wanted was for his lover to get hurt, especially in his current weakened condition.   “You always have, you know,” Jack said, giving him his best shit-eating grin.  “And this is from the man who likes to read Torchwood mission reports, as much time as you’ve tried to get them aired in meetings.”

“You’ve managed to destroy all my plans,” the Master snapped, eyes narrowing.  “I really should have paid more attention to you, Harkness.”

“I can’t take all the credit, you know.  I have an awesome team who figured things out.”  Jack made a grand gesture toward the others. 

He could tell there was a rapid-fire mental conversation going on around him, and he hoped that the Master wouldn’t catch on.  Trust the Tomorrow People to be planning something, and Jack hoped it would succeed.

It was interesting being somewhat open to Ianto; he could actually _feel_ the ebb and flow of their planning, thought travelling faster than normal conversation.   He couldn’t make out anything, and he wondered just what had happened on the TARDIS, because whatever it was it had linked them in some way. 

Jack couldn’t be happier.

But they had to get out of this predicament first.

“It’s not too late,” the Doctor pleaded.  “We’re the last of the Time Lords –“

“And whose fault is that?” the Master demanded.  “Who’s the one who killed them all?” He grinned, and Jack shivered at it.  “I’m just trying to rebuild the Time Lord Empire here!”  He threw his arms wide.  “Isn’t this a perfect launching pad for our new Empire?  The humans…so easy to manipulate…we can take power here and no one can stop us!  We’d have a ready-made slave force and army to take us back to the stars!”

“It won’t be that simple,” John said.  “We’ll stop you.”

The Master snorted, looking at John as if he were an insect.  “The high-and-mighty Tomorrow People!  I’d heard about you, but I didn’t think you’d actually interfere since you’re all _peaceful_.”  He grimaced, making it sound like a curse word.  

“Your Archangel Network got us involved.  You should never activate a telepathic network around telepaths.  Of course we were going to intervene.”

“Speaking of intervening,” Jack replied, “we called off the Army.  Looks like you’re here without any back-up.”

The Master’s face went dark with fury.  His fingers twitched on his weapon, and Jack braced himself for whatever would come out of that slim tube.

Nothing did.

Instead, Owen Harper materialised behind the Master, and pressed an injector gun to his neck.  A soft hiss filled the silence, and the Master had just enough time to spin around and face his grinning attacker before crumpling to the floor.

Jack wanted to high-five his Second. 

Instead, he merely nodded.  “Nice save.”

Owen snorted.  “Blame that bloody supercomputer.  He called us and said you lot were being held at gunpoint and to get my arse in here to save you without killing anyone.”

The Doctor was on his knees beside the unconscious Master.   “What did you use?” he asked sharply.

“Don’t worry, I’m well aware of any sort of allergies you Time Lords have.  I’m not about to poison him, even if he damned well deserves it after all the shit he’s been trying to pull.”

“And this is your Torchwood?” the Doctor said accusingly, glaring at Jack.

“Of course it is,” Jack answered, hiding the hurt at the Doctor’s curt attitude.  He’d done his best to make Torchwood into something that would honour the Time Lord, and he was being judged against Yvonne Hartman, no matter what the others had said.  “One would have killed him outright and then dissected him.  I just want him incapacitated long enough to see that justice is served, no matter what that justice is.”

“We’ll need to find a place to hold him where he won’t escape,” John said. 

Jack nodded.  If the Master had any of the same knowledge as the Doctor – and he didn’t doubt for a moment that he did – then a normal cell wouldn’t hold him for long.  Plus he’d apparently stolen the TARDIS, according to the information Ianto was sending him mentally, and had been well on the way to creating a paradox machine from her.  He had no idea how much input the Master had had with the Archangel Network, but if he had to guess he would say a majority, even if he’d had others build it for him.  Jack had also seen firsthand that the Master could mentally control people, as with Ms Cosgrove.  He simply couldn’t trust any ordinary prison to keep the Time Lord for any length of time.

“I’ll take him,” the Doctor said, standing.  “I’ll keep him onboard the TARDIS with me.”

Castle snorted.  “Yeah?  And didn’t he steal your ship from under your nose?  What makes you think he won’t do that again?”

The Doctor glared at him, but Castle seemed to just shrug it off.  Jack was impressed despite himself.

“What guarantee could you give that the Master wouldn’t escape?” John challenged.  “Can you promise that he won’t overpower you and take off with your TARDIS once more?  That some other innocent world won’t be endangered?”

The Doctor didn’t answer.

Jack almost felt sorry for him, but he just couldn’t condone the idea of the Doctor holding the Master in the TARDIS indefinitely.  It just wouldn’t work, because he honestly couldn’t make the sorts of guarantees that John was asking for.  Sometime in the future, the Master could escape, and he could either seek revenge on what had happened here or he could go after another world, and this one might not have people with the ability to fight for it, like the Earth did.

“Letting the Doctor take the Master doesn’t even address the charges he has against him from both the Federation and Earth,” Elena pointed out. 

“Well, if you ask me,” Owen said, “there’s one place we can store him and we don’t have to worry about him getting out.”

He explained.

Jack nodded, completely in agreement.

Of course, the Doctor didn’t like it.

 

 


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

All Ianto wanted to do was sleep, but there was more that needed to be accomplished before he could even think about lying down.

It had felt good though, to have Jack’s arm around him, and his thoughts tickling his mind.  He kept expecting the link between himself and his lover to fade out the farther he got away from the TARDIS, but it didn’t, and Ianto couldn’t be happier.  He could tell Jack was as well.

He wanted to sit down with him and explain, but there wasn’t time.  They needed to get the Master secured, and Owen’s idea was the best one available.  The other Tomorrow People agreed, and so they all found themselves back at the Hub, and Ianto had work to do, preparing one of the cryogenic units from the vault.  Freezing the Master made it certain that he wouldn’t be able to escape without help, and hopefully any of his mind-controlled minions out there wouldn’t be able to find the Hub.

Ianto glanced up into Jack’s office, where Jack, John, and the Doctor were yelling at each other.  While he couldn’t hear what was being said through the closed door, he could feel his lover’s anger in his head.  He couldn’t help but grin at that, despite the seriousness of the situation.

“What I wouldn’t give to be a fly on the wall in there,” Owen said.  He had been heading down into the autopsy bay, to finish prepping the Master for cryofreeze, and he’d stopped at Ianto’s station in order to watch over his shoulder as diagnostics ran on the chamber being used to house the renegade Time Lord.

“It’s not pretty,” Ianto agreed.  He rubbed his eyes, glad to be sitting down at the moment.

“You look like shit.”

“Then looks aren’t deceiving.”

“Jack said he wanted you checked out.  You wanna explain why?”

Ianto sighed, spinning his chair around to face Owen.  “I melded my mind with that of the Doctor’s sentient time machine.”  He glanced over to where the TARDIS had been parked, just by the water tower.  He could just get a sense of satisfaction coming from her which led Ianto to assume that she was glad they were taking the Master off the Doctor’s hands.  He couldn’t blame her; after all, who would want someone around that had hurt them the way the Master had her?

“Then as soon as we get this loony bedded down I want you in my office for a full scan,” the medic ordered.  “Your super-brain is probably all in a flux right now.”

“It’s not that,” Ianto admitted.  “My head isn’t hurting or anything.  It’s…” Damnit, he’d wanted to speak to Jack about this first, but Owen would need to know as well.  “The TARDIS…rewarded me for helping her go after the Doctor and Martha in the future.”

Owen narrowed his eyes.  “What sort of reward are we talking about?”

“First, I can hear Jack’s thoughts now.” 

“I knew you couldn’t before.  What changed?”

“We’ve never really knew what made it impossible to hear Jack, but I think it was a combination of his Time Agency training and whatever made him immortal.   The TARDIS told me it was the time vortex that did it.”

“Jack doesn’t know this yet, does he?” the medic asked shrewdly.

“I haven’t really had a chance to tell him, no.  And I don’t think the Doctor will be as nice about it, to be honest.  Apparently he’d abandoned Jack on the Gamestation because he knew what had happened and could no longer stand to be around him.  What Jack is now is wrong according to the rest of the universe.”

“Yeah, well the Doctor’s an arsehole.  There’s not a thing wrong with Jack, except for his penchant to flirt with everything that moves.”

Ianto couldn’t help but feel grateful for Owen’s support.  “Anyway, I think the reason I can ‘hear’ Jack now is that I’ve been exposed to the vortex myself.”

“When you did the Vulcan mind-meld with the TARDIS.”

“Yep.  Whether that means I’m like Jack now, I don’t know, but the TARDIS seems to think so.”

“And that machine would know.”  Owen ran his hand through his hair.  “Yeah, we need to test for that before you decide to throw yourself in front of an alien gun or other deadly shit.  I’ll try to come up with something.”

“I don’t know if this is going to affect my powers more than just being able to talk to Jack telepathically.”

“Does Alexis know all this?”

Ianto glanced at his friend, who was sitting on the sofa being grilled by her father.  “Not this, no.  I mean, she knows about melding with the TARDIS but not about…maybe being like Jack.  All the Tomorrow People know I can listen to Jack’s thoughts, though.  I couldn’t hide that, since my shields have been a bit rotten because of lowering them for the TARDIS.  I’ve been too tired to completely rebuild them so I’ve been leaking a bit.”

“After I give you a complete exam, you’re going on downtime until your shields are back up.  I know you have the best shields of all the Teeps, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be damaged.  I don’t want to see you back here until you can keep Gwen’s thoughts out.  Understood?”

Ianto rolled his eyes at Owen’s use of the term ‘Teeps’.  “I really love Gwen, but she has the loudest thoughts out of the entire team.”

“Which is why I’m using her as a yardstick for your telepathic health.  Now, get that cryochamber up here and we can get bloody started.”

Ianto got up from his chair.  “I’ll send it up right away.”

 

**********

 

The Doctor was watching from the upper level of the autopsy bay and making everyone antsy.

Ianto did his best to ignore him but the Time Lord was projecting so hard it was a wonder that the people up on the Plass weren’t picking up his anger at events under their very feet.  Everyone had left a wide berth around him, even his own companion, which was a surprise.  Ianto hadn’t had much of a chance to speak to Martha – Gwen had, though, and had looked impressed by the young woman – and he hoped that he would be able to eventually.  She didn’t seem very happy, and he didn’t know why, although he assumed it was because of the Doctor.

Jack helped Owen with the final preparations, his face stony with left over anger from his confrontation with the Doctor in his office.  It was usually Ianto’s duty, but Owen had threatened him with sedation if he even tried to lift anything heavier than a cup of coffee.  Not that Ianto minded; he really was quite tired, and couldn’t wait until everything was done so he and Jack could go home.  He could really use a shower, and to curl up with Jack in their bed.  He also wanted to get Jack alone so he could speak with him about what had occurred on the TARDIS.   They really needed to discuss it, and Ianto wanted to tell Jack what he’d found out. 

Jack deserved his answers, and Ianto wanted to be the one to give them to him.

“You guys constantly surprise me,” he heard Castle murmur to a waiting Toshiko.  “You all make me want to start writing science fiction.”

“Dad,” Alexis chided, acting as if she was the adult of the pair.   She poked him in the ribs with her elbow.

“Ow,” he complained, pouting.

There was a sighing sound, and Ianto watched as the cryochamber closed over the unconscious form of the Master.  The lights on the front of the chamber began flashing, and Owen watched them for a second before announcing, “Everything looks good.  We’ll store him away until you all can figure out what you want to do with him.”

The Doctor spun on his heel, making his way out of the autopsy bay without a word.  Martha went after him, and she didn’t look very happy.  Owen moved the cryochamber into the lift and started it down as Ianto also left the room just in time to see the Doctor stride over to the TARDIS and push the door open.  “Come on, Martha,” he ordered.

She stopped just short of him.  “I think I’m gonna stay here,” she answered. 

The Time Lord looked stunned.  “You’d stay here?  With them?”

“There’s nothing wrong with _them_ , as you put it,” Martha said.  “And I’m honestly tired of playing second fiddle to a certain blonde you can’t seem to let go of.”

_Rose Tyler,_ Ianto realised.  He glanced at Jack; he was stony-faced, but Ianto could tell that the Doctor had, at least, let him know that Rose was still alive.  Ianto knew that her ‘death’ had been one of the major things that Jack had held against Torchwood One.

“I don’t know what you mean,” the Time Lord denied.

“Yeah, of course you don’t.”  Martha shook her head.  Ianto knew there was a story there, but he didn’t want to pry.  “Anyway, I’m staying.   I can get back to London from here…”

“Or you can come and work for me,” Jack offered.  “Torchwood can help you finish up your education, and we can always use another doctor.”

“Speak for yourself, Harkness,” Owen snarked, although he didn’t look unhappy with Martha joining them. 

“Or, if you want to study alien medicine,” John spoke up, “the Galactic Trig is always looking for people, and it doesn’t matter if you’re a Tomorrow Person or not.”

Martha looked intrigued by both offers.  “I’ll have to think about it.  But I really want to see my family first.”

“I can ask Tim to transport you there,” John said, smiling.

“Thanks.”  She turned back to the Doctor, who looked shocked at the turn of events.  “It’s been a pleasure travelling with you, but I’m ready to stay in this time now.” 

“It’s your decision.”  The Doctor shrugged, spinning back to the TARDIS.

“Doctor,” Jack called, stopping him.

The Time Lord didn’t turn around.  “I really should be going.”  He sounded lost, but there was an angry undertone in his voice that Ianto didn’t like.

“I need to know why I’m the way I am, and if I can be changed back.”  There was such hopefulness in his statement that Ianto’s heart went out to him.  Of course, he already knew what had caused Jack’s immortality, but his wish that he be able to explain to Jack was now dead as dust.

“Rose happened,” the Doctor answered, facing Jack.  “She looked into the heart of the TARDIS, and used that power to bring you back.  Only she did it permanently.”

Any hope that Jack had had disappeared, and Ianto let his lover feel all of his support and acceptance through their new link.  Love flowed back over it, as well as sadness and despair.  “Then I’m always going to be like this.”

“Yes, Jack.  Now, I’m leaving –“

“Tell him why you left him on the Gamestation, Doctor,” Ianto ordered, upset on Jack’s behalf. 

“Yeah,” Alexis piped up, leaving her father’s side.  “You owe Captain Harkness a big apology for just abandoning him there.”

Ianto smiled over at her, and she nodded back.  _‘The Captain deserves it.  He should never have been left behind like that, no matter what.”_

Together the two Tomorrow People confronted the Doctor, who tried to glare them down.  Ianto wasn’t about to let him, and while he was no longer directly connected to the TARDIS he could still sense her pleasure at them standing up for her former passenger. 

Obviously the Doctor could sense it too, because he transferred that glare onto his time ship.    “It wasn’t my fault that Rose did what she did.”

“We never said it was,” Alexis said.  “But you did choose to leave.”

“I was in the midst of a regeneration,” the Doctor argued. 

“But you could have gone back,” Ianto said, echoing Martha from their conversation within the TARDIS.  “Jack had died for you, and he deserved better.”

“I can’t stand to look at him,” the Doctor confessed, in fact not looking at anyone.  “No one is supposed to be immortal like that.  He’s a fixed point; a fact in time and space.  He’s not supposed to exist.  He’s wrong –“

Ianto could feel Jack’s pain in his head, and he took a step toward his lover.

He missed the Doctor being knocked to the floor, and Richard Castle of all people was standing over him, his fist clenched.

“Please, try to get up,” Castle growled.  “I’d dearly love to put you down again.”

The Doctor rubbed his jaw.  “What was that for?”

“Jack Harkness is a lot of things,” the writer said.  “He’s a flirt, and a reformed playboy, and sometimes he says things so dirty I want to cover my own daughter’s ears.  But he also cares about his team and his friends, and will do anything for any of them.  Alexis tells me he’d die for anyone, and it doesn’t matter that he can come back.  And he loves Jones with a passion you just don’t see very often.  But there isn’t a thing wrong with him.  Hell, I don’t even know what that means, but it doesn’t sound very nice, and in fact it sounds like you’re blaming him when it was this Rose who did whatever it was to him that made him immortal.  Why don’t you go and blame her for doing the impossible instead of apparently mooning over her?”

If Ianto thought Castle would stand still for it, and that Jack wouldn’t get jealous, he would be hugging the writer about now, although he wished he’d been the one to throw that punch.  He knew he could have justified it somehow with his genetic upbringing.

The Doctor’s eyes were round with surprise.  “And what gives a small-minded ape the right to judge me?”

Castle glowered.  “I might not be as evolved as others here, but this is my planet and I’m damned proud of the people who protect it.  And they don’t go insulting the normal people like it’s their right to do so.  Personally, you can go to whatever hell you Time Lords believe in.  If you don’t like us, then get your skinny ass off our planet and leave us in peace.”

Applaud started from somewhere, and Ianto was willing to bet that it was Owen.  But it quickly spread throughout the Hub, and Ianto couldn’t help but join in. 

The Doctor had such a reputation for saving the Earth so many times, but it seemed to have given him a superiority complex that just didn’t mesh with his actions.  Or perhaps he simply felt that the human race couldn’t take care of itself, which showed a complete lack of empathy for the ones he sought to save.  It made Ianto wonder just why he travelled with human companions.  Was it to show off?  Or did he really need the companionship?  He decided to ask Martha about it later.

Jack stepped up behind Ianto and put his arms around him, and Ianto was glad of it.  His knees were feeling a bit wobbly again, and it felt good to lean back against Jack’s broad chest.  He really did hate to be this weak. 

He could sense Jack’s roiling emotional state even as he was saying, “I think it’s time you left, don’t you?”

They were a united front: Torchwood and the Tomorrow People, plus friends.  There really was no way the Doctor could compete with that, Ianto knew.

Castle stepped back as the Doctor rose, using the TARDIS as a prop to get to his feet.  His eyes darted around the room, and Ianto couldn’t help but notice that they shied away when he got to Jack and himself.  He wondered if it was just because of Jack’s immortality or was the Time Lord seeing something within Ianto as well. 

The Doctor didn’t say anything, however.  He simply nodded once, and then opened the door into the TARDIS.  He practically slammed it behind him, signaling his displeasure at events, but Ianto didn’t know how it could have ended differently.  The Doctor had abandoned and insulted their leader and friend, and had been a disruptive influence over what to do with the Master.  Yes, he and Martha had been stranded in the future, but that should have given him at least some perspective on what he’d done to Jack. 

The grinding, tearing noise that heralded the TARDIS leaving echoed around the Hub, and the Doctor was gone.

 

 


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

Jack knew, of course, that the Doctor would try something like this.

He leaned against the wall as he watched the Time Lord searching through the cryogenic units, looking for the Master.  He wouldn’t have been able to leave it alone, and would want to ‘rescue’ his fellow Time Lord from the ‘evil’ Torchwood. 

It was disappointing, because he’d hoped that once the Doctor had thought about it, he’d have seen this was the best solution for everyone. 

But Jack could also understand.  Up until the events of a week ago, he’d thought he was alone in the universe, and he would have given anything to not be so.  Now he had Ianto; the tests that Owen had come up with had proved beyond a doubt that he’d have his lover around for a very long time.  His powers had also changed, in that he now had a link to Jack’s mind that appeared to go both ways.  His other abilities had stayed the same, though, for which Ianto had been grateful, not wanting to have to re-learn anything. 

“You’re not going to find him,” Jack finally spoke up, surprised that the Doctor hadn’t noticed him before.  Ianto had explained certain things to him, about just how the Doctor saw him now, and Jack hadn’t thought he’d remain standing there for long without the Doctor at least sensing him if he truly was that far wrong.

Not that he’d say that around Ianto or any other member of his team.  They took offence at that sort of talk.

The Doctor jumped, spinning around in surprise.  “Jack!” he exclaimed, trying to look innocent and failing utterly. 

“I knew you were here from the moment the TARDIS materialised,” Jack said, pushing himself away from the wall.  “In fact, I was expecting you several days ago.”  He’d set the interior Hub sensors to pick up the temporal signature of the TARDIS arriving, and it had worked perfectly.

“I just couldn’t leave him here,” the Doctor admitted, raising his chin in defiance.  “He’s my own race, Jack.”

“I understand, but as I said he’s not here.  If you’d showed up two days ago, you would have found him, but yesterday the Galactic Federation took custody of the cryochamber and had the Master moved.”

“Where is he?”

Jack shrugged.  “I have no idea.  They didn’t share that with me, although I do know he will be tried fairly.”  John had formally asked permission on behalf of the Federation to use a galactic court in which to bring the charges against the renegade.  Jack had seen no reason to deny the request, since there was no way the Master would get any sort of trial on Earth.  Any judge would have just thought that Harold Saxon had lost his mind and would have institutionalised him, despite the differences in his physical make-up.  It would have been too simple for him to escape a minimum-security mental hospital.

The scandal had broken the day after Torchwood and the Tomorrow People had closed down Magister Innovations – both offices in London and Trenton.  Ianto had come up with the best cover story: that Saxon had disappeared after the books from the company had been audited and had shown misappropriations being funneled directly to the former Minister of Defence.  It had thrown several government projects into turmoil, including the cancellation of the upcoming launch of UNIT’s aircraft carrier, the _Valiant,_ until investigations were completed. 

It had taken Toshiko and Tim most of that night to get everything set up, but it had been worth it.  Ianto had wanted to help, but Owen had insisted that Ianto rest after his mental communication with the TARDIS.  His lover had slept nearly twenty-four hours, but had returned to work refreshed and his shields just as strong as ever, for which Jack was very grateful.  He’d been worried about how pale and weak he’d looked.

As for Saxon’s wife, Lucy…she’d been questioned, and had claimed not to know anything about what her husband had been up to.  John had done a mental probe of her, and it had been useful, in that it proved that while she might have known her husband wasn’t quite human, the Master hadn’t really shown her anything except the TARDIS, and had taken her on a trip to the far future to meet the last of the human race waiting there.  She’d been disturbed by what she’d seen there, and John had suggested some mental help in order to aid her to digest it all. 

Jack had agreed, and Lucy had been sectioned, but it was in Providence Park where, one: Jack could keep an eye on her; and two: she was less likely to be recognised there.  She wouldn’t get any better if the residents there knew who she was and brought up the past.  Not that it would have been done maliciously, but Lucy’s recovery could possibly have been damaged by anything dragged up in ignorance.

“I’m certain they’ll announce the trial once things are set,” Jack went on.  “If you went and spoke to Timus Irnok Mosta on the Galactic Trig, he may let you see for yourself that the Master is all right.”  It had been the elderly statesman of the Federation who had taken everything in hand, from the original request for extradition – made through John, as senior Tomorrow Person on the planet and an ambassador in his own right – to arranging a place where the Master’s cryochamber would be stored until things could be arranged.  It had also been a positive that Timus had met the Doctor on several occasions, and knew what the Time Lord could get up to without oversight.

Honestly, Jack doubted that the Doctor would be able to get anywhere near the Master until the actual trial.

“You should have let me take him, Jack.”

“No, I shouldn’t have, because while the Galactic Federation might not agree with the Shadow Proclamation’s methods, they would not have hesitated in putting out an arrest warrant for you on the grounds of aiding and abetting an act of genocide against a member race of the Federation.”  Jack had been a little surprised by that, but John had explained that the Shadow Proclamation really didn’t see a difference between helping in the act and helping the actual perpetrator to escape, even if that person was completely innocent of the original crime.  The Doctor would have had the Judoon on his trail quite possibly for the rest of his lives.

With those words, the Doctor bristled.   He stalked toward Jack, and Jack didn’t move, letting him get up close and personal.  There had been a time when Jack had enjoyed the invasion of his personal space by the Doctor, but those days were long gone with the death of the Time Lord’s ninth incarnation and on a space station in the far-flung future. 

Jack cut him off before he could even say the first word of what would have most likely would have been a lengthy and very loud tirade.  “There’s nothing you can say that will convince me we didn’t do the right thing.  You’re blinded by your own bias, and by the fact that you’re alone.  Believe me…I know exactly how you feel.  I’ve been alone for most of my life, and while it hasn’t been as long as yours yet, I can still get it.  But the Master wasn’t the one to spend your lives with.  He would have twisted you up and convinced you he was reformed until you would have let your guard down, and then the universe would have suffered.”

“You don’t know that, Jack.”

“No, you’re right, I don’t…but _you_ know it.  In your hearts, you know what I’m saying is true, because you’d want to believe the Master.  You’d want him to turn to good and be the perfect companion for you.  But he never would be.  He’d get under your skin and then turn some unsuspecting world upside down.  Do you really want that on your conscience?”

The Doctor looked as if he wanted to argue once more, but Jack had to give him credit for refraining.  After all, neither of them were about to back down on this.  Instead, he turned on his heel and headed back to the TARDIS without another word.

He then stopped just as he was opening the door.  “How’s Martha?”

“She’s fine.  She’s going to take up a scholarship onboard the Trig, in order to study xenobiology with the best the Federation has.” He’d been a bit disappointed by her decision, but Jack couldn’t blame her.  Once she graduated there was a good chance he could hire her for Torchwood.

The Doctor nodded, and then entered the TARDIS.  Its unmistakable noise echoed through the vaults as it vanished once more.

Jack was, quite frankly, glad to see him gone, and he couldn’t dredge up enough sorrow to mourn the loss of someone who had once been a great friend…and more.

 

**********

 

Jack made his way through the diners and back toward the small banquet room he’d reserved for that night.  Already he could feel Ianto’s mental presence growing stronger; they were playing with ranges of their new link, and so far they’d managed to get it to extend for ten miles in any direction.  Ianto thought that, with training, they would be able to stretch that out even farther.

Ianto’s warmth curled up in Jack’s back brain like a contented cat, and Jack grinned as he headed into the room just off the main restaurant.  The table was full, with all of the Tomorrow People, Torchwood, and several friends around it, talking animatedly.  Ianto glanced up as Jack approached the seat that had been saved next to him, and Jack slid into it, letting his hand rest on his lover’s knee as he greeted everyone with a nod.

_‘Everything taken care of?’_ Ianto asked him silently.

Jack nodded, letting his lover see the blow-by-blow from his own memories.  Ianto sighed.  _‘It’s his loss.  And you don’t need him, anyway.  You have us.’_

Ianto was right, of course.  Jack took a look around the large, round table at the gathering of friends who had arrived before him.  On Ianto’s right sat Elena, who was busily being bored at the overly technical conversation going on between John and Toshiko, and she rolled her eyes when she noticed Jack looking at her.  “I’ve heard of football widows,” she said good-naturedly, “but I had no idea a person could be a science widow.”

“What was that?” John asked, apparently being drawn away from his talk with Toshiko by Elena’s voice.

“Nothing.”  She waved her hand.  “Go on back to whatever you were doing.”

 John looked confused, but did as she bid.

On the other side of Toshiko, Owen was debating with Rhys about sports, of all things.  Jack hadn’t known his medic had been sport-minded until Rhys had come on the scene, and then things had become rather…animated, between the two men.  If Jack had to guess, he would have said that Rhys and Owen were the most unlikely of best friends, if only by the vehemence of their fights over the latest football scores and their mutual love of beer.

Both Gwen and Martha were laughing at some sort of joke Paul had just told.  Martha and the younger Tomorrow Person had hit it off; not enough to date, since according to Elena Paul had a semi-regular girlfriend, but he’d been the one to show her around the Trig when she’d gone to see about enrolling in the xenobiology courses and labs that were being offered.  He’s also introduced Martha to several healers, including a teenager named Robert, and Martha had practically adopted him into the rather large Jones clan when she’d found out he didn’t have any surviving family on Earth.   Apparently her mother – a formidable woman named Francine – had adored the young man from the start, and Paul had had a bit of fun showing everyone photos of Robert’s embarrassed first meeting with her.

And, finally, there were the Castles.  Rick Castle had his hands over Alexis’ ears, an expression of parental horror on his features.  The joke Paul had told must have been raunchy, and Alexis was trying to get her Dad’s hands away from her head.  “It’s not like I haven’t heard that sort of thing before,” she told her father.   “There are worst jokes at school.”

“Care to share a few?” Paul asked, waggling his eyebrows at her comically.

“No she doesn’t.”  Castle jabbed toward him with his finger.  Then he turned back to his daughter. “And I’m moving you to another school.  This one with nuns and really thick walls and no TV.  Oh, and no internet.  And wooden rulers.  Vows of silence would be good, too.”

 “Can you get anymore clichéd, Dad?”  Alexis asked, smirking. 

“Besides,” Paul added, “it’s not like Lexi could get out anytime she wanted to just by jaunting.”

Jack wanted to laugh at Alexis’ snort.  Paul had a tendency to nickname everyone.  Well, except for John, but he really didn’t think the elder Tomorrow Person would put up with it for very long.  He even started calling Ianto ‘Yan’, which led to a series of acts of revenge that had Paul backing down quickly.

Jack knew then and there he’d never call his lover anything but Ianto, because he could be downright nasty in his vengeance despite his non-violent tendencies, and Jack wanted his regular coffee and sex, thanks very much. 

“My life is going to be hell when Alexis gets her first boyfriend,” Castle moaned, rubbing his forehead as if he was developing a headache.  “There will be no boys at this new school, too.”

The table erupted into laughter.

One of the wait staff came by, and everyone placed their drinks orders.  It was silent for a bit as everyone perused their menus.   Jack had taken Ianto to this restaurant on one of their dates, and had really enjoyed the steak. 

After orders were taken, conversation resumed, and Jack simply sat back, one arm draped over the back of Ianto’s chair, basking in the camaraderie around their table.  Ianto leaned into him slightly, carrying on a conversation with Elena and John, and it was through their link that he felt his lover’s surprise at something that must have been said.

Jack began to pay attention to the conversation. 

“I know you intend to stay with Torchwood,” John was saying, “and I’m not about to ask you to leave.  However, there’s going to come a time when I’ll want to retire.  I’ve been leading the team now for nearly forty years, after all.”

“But what about any of the others?” Ianto asked, his voice pitched just a bit higher than normal.

 “Well, I’m hoping Elena will go with me,” John chuckled. 

“You haven’t actually asked me yet,” Elena exclaimed.  “And I’ll believe it when I see it.  Retiring, my arse.  You’re the biggest workaholic I’ve ever met.”

John looked at her forbiddingly, but Elena just smiled, used to his moods.  “And Paul,” the elder Tomorrow Person went on, “wants to eventually study on the Trig.  You’ll be the senior Tomorrow Person on the planet then.  Plus, there’s your newest ability –“

Jack knew John meant Ianto’s immortality and didn’t want to mention it aloud.

“– and I can’t think of anyone better than to take over in the Lab.”

Ianto was shaking his head, and Jack could feel his uncertainty.  Jack decided it was time to step in.

 “I think that would be a wonderful idea,” he replied.  “We could work out a more cohesive connection between the Hub and the Lab, and perhaps bring some more people in to take over some of the duties you don’t need to be doing.  You’re already liaison between Torchwood and the Tomorrow People; I don’t see where that couldn’t change to be a sort of ambassador.”  He grasped Ianto’s shoulder.  “You could actually run your own team.”

“I’m not ready for that kind of responsibility,” Ianto denied. 

“Well, no,” Jack agreed.  “But you can be by the time John decides to step down. “  He glanced at the elder Tomorrow Person.  “I assume there are duties he’ll need training for?”

John nodded.  “There are certain files and such that I have access to.  Plus I think diplomatic training would be involved.  Also, a bit more experience with Tim’s systems wouldn’t go amiss.”

“See, he’s not talking about doing anything right away.”  Jack felt a little of Ianto’s concern subside.  “But down the road, yes.  I can’t imagine working with anyone else, and I don’t mean that as…as your lover.”  It felt right to finally say it aloud.  Everyone knew, of course, but it was different actually acknowledging it vocally. 

“I’ll think about it,” Ianto said.  “It’s…a big step.”

“Yes, it is.”  Elena reached out and squeezed Ianto’s hand.  “But we’ve talked about it and we can’t think of anyone better for the job.”

The babble around the table had gone quiet, and even without their link Jack could tell that Ianto was embarrassed by the attention.   His decision would affect everyone, and it was an important one.

And, with perfect timing, their food arrived.

Jack leaned back in his chair once more, smiling as the friends around the table began to eat, any heaviness of conversation ended…for now.

But he was positive that changes were coming.  After all, it was the 21st Century.

And that was when everything changed.

 


End file.
